Ascension
by A.D. Williams
Summary: After the collapse of Oval Tower, Toue has gone missing, leaving the company to fall into ruin without its leader. Except that it turns out he did have an heir—Sei. With his new status, Sei wants to do everything he can to help Midorijima. And yet...is it really true that absolute power corrupts absolutely?
1. Spring Cleaning

Hello, hello! Before reading, I'd like to make a few quick points:

First off, parts of this story (especially this first chapter) probably uses too much business jargon, but I wanted to at least _attempt _to make it sound a little realistic. This said, I'm far from a business major so any details I have wrong, forgive me.

And second, this does have a central canon pairing (Aoba and Clear) with possibly one or two non-canon pairings mentioned (primarily, they'll serve for humor since overall I do want this to be a comical story). So, be ready for that. Otherwise, enjoy!

* * *

**Spring Cleaning**

The first thing Sei heard upon gaining consciousness was an incessant sound of ruffling. Though his eyes were still closed, vaguely he could feel a difference between this darkness and the nothingness he'd come from. His mind was too frazzled to want to process anything and he turned away from the noise in an attempt to block it. Unfortunately, not only did it not work, but new sounds were beginning to filter in as well.

"Looks like he's finally waking up," someone said. "He's been in a coma for nearly a year. Truthfully, I wasn't sure Sei-san would awaken, but it's definitely good that he has. He's the only one that can put an end to all of the chaos."

He could've sworn the voice was familiar. Now to add to the ruffling, his mind refused to shut back down until he pin-pointed whose voice that was. Before he could start churning any guesses, a second, equally familiar voice spoke.

"Remind me again why we didn't just take the company for ourselves? It would've beat sitting around for a year."

The first person sighed. "Because we don't have the legal authority. Even if part of Toue, Inc. operated off the books, you can't simply _take _a company. Besides, the most we could do is become a shareholder. And I don't feel much like sharing."

"Ah. Quite true," the other person agreed. "Owning a company also isn't much fun. All things considered, looking after Sei was pretty easy. Too bad though we missed our chance to play with Aoba."

A louder exhaled breath expressed the regret of both of them. "Yes, very sad. We underestimated Aoba-san's friends to be so protective of him." The person suddenly stopped speaking and a sound of clothing moving could be heard, as though the person were straightening up. "We shouldn't discuss such things now. Sei is nearly awake, it would appear."

Sei took that as his cue to finally open his eyes. The first thing he took in was a ceiling, smooth and white. His eyes slowly roved the room, picking out a small sink in the corner, then a large window with the curtain closed and a heart monitor on the side of…the bed. The voices said he'd been asleep for a year, in a coma. This had to be a hospital. And his visitors were…

"Hello, Virus…Trip," he whispered, his usually weak voice made even weaker with non-use.

"How are you feeling?" Virus asked, feeling his forehead to ensure he was in good health.

Sei nodded that he was fine and turned his eyes onto something that was in Virus' lap. There lay a large stack of papers, paragraph upon paragraph written in small, officious letters. So that explained the ruffling sound he'd heard earlier.

"Happy to see you're doing well, Sei-san. We were worried about you," Trip said, leaning forward in his chair with both elbows on his knees and his hands under his chin. "If you're feeling up to it, there's something very important we need to discuss with you."

Sei would've protested but Virus didn't give him the time to get the words out. "Ever since the collapse of Oval Tower, the company has been in freefall," he informed. "The mainland government has seized most of Toue, Incorporated's properties and the stock market price of the entire establishment has plummeted. The company shareholders are bailing, further lowering the value. We have a board of directors who helps draw up ideas and second any important company decisions but none of them have been able to come to an agreed vote on who should be CEO. Everyone wants it for themselves."

"In short, we're fucked," Trip said, earning him a reproachful stare from Virus.

Sei had patiently listened to the woes of the company and after a brief moment of thinking, he asked "And what does any of this have to do with me…?"

Trip reached down and picked up a sheet of paper from the top of Virus' lap and pressed it forward for Sei to see. "We actually found documents created by Toue himself naming you as his stand-in if anything happened to him. It's called…what's it called again?"

"Power of attorney, I believe," Virus said, pushing up his glasses and flipping through some of the other papers.

"Yeah, that thing," Trip shrugged. "In sort, while we don't know if Toue is dead or alive, he's not here to manage the company, thus he gave you legal authority to do so in his place."

"Sei-san," Virus said quietly, leaning forward to bore his eyes into Sei's. "You're the only one that can do this. Please. Help restore the company to its former greatness."

Sei flirted with the idea of refusing. For the first time in his life, he was outside of Toue's reach. He could do whatever he wanted. He was free to walk away and never look back, with middle fingers in the air. That was the only thing he'd ever asked for.

And yet…as the leader of Toue, Inc., this put him up on a pedestal that also offered an immense amount of sanctuary. As the executive, he would be the one calling the shots. Whoever said you couldn't have your cake and eat it too?

He looked up at the two non-twins who were waiting for his reply and couldn't hold back the smile that slowly spread across his face. "Alright. But we'll be doing things _my _way."

~.~.~

The first order of business after Sei got out of the hospital was to request a meeting with the infamous board of directors. Like the VIP he now was, he was chauffeured in an expensive vehicle through the streets of Midorijima and into the now publicly-opened Platinum Jail. The meeting was to be held in a teahouse within the Flame Willow district.

The room was nearly filled when they arrived, with only three spaces remaining for each of them. Both heads of the table were occupied, so Sei took a seat between a gruff-looking middle aged man and a woman who appeared to be in her thirties, her hair pulled back into a perfect bun. Everyone looked intimidating and he found that he couldn't help but shrink into himself a little.

Virus and Trip were saved spots that were across from his and were next to each other. It occurred to Sei that there had never been a time in which he'd ever seen one without the other. Coupled with their similar appearance, it was almost as though it were an unspoken rule that wherever one person went, the other would follow.

_How…cute? _Sei wasn't sure what to call it.

As usual though, Virus took the lead in speaking and addressed the entire room. "I want to thank all of you for coming here today, especially on short notice. This meeting is to simply inform of some new changes for the corporation and to also discuss our focus and direction for the future."

Immediately, one of the men at the head of the table to Sei's left spoke up. He looked to be the oldest and wore a formal male's kimono with his hands perched formidably on his knees. "And just what do you mean by changes? As the directors, we are to come to a general consensus together on any decisions that are to be made."

"Aye," another person said, this coming from someone to the right. "The two of you might've been the closest to Toue but that doesn't automatically give you the power to bypass us."

As the others murmured their agreement, Sei caught a very quiet noise of annoyance from Trip. However, Virus appeared unaffected and said, "That is quite true, we don't hold any legal power within the company. However, after much searching, we do believe we've found documents that point to the proper heir."

Without hesitation, everyone turned to Sei, singling out the new guy. He shrank down even more, looking at the back of his skeleton gloves as though they were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.

"You can't possibly be talking about this kid," the woman next to him said.

_Twenty-four isn't a kid! _He wanted to protest but figured that comment in itself would sound childish.

Someone else asked the group at large, "Isn't that Sei? The one Toue-san introduced to the public at the commemoration event?"

Sei only nodded to confirm himself and away the discussion went with the buzz of the room growing louder. It would seem that while few people had actually seen him, many knew of him. And it would appear they had a very different idea of his role in the company.

The first leader spoke above the others and pointed an accusing finger at Sei, yelling "You mean to tell us that Toue appointed his _pet _as his next in line? That's absolutely ridiculous!"

It took a moment for the words to sink in for Sei. Yes, he had been held almost hostage by Toue and yes, many experiments were ran on him, so many in fact, that his heart nearly gave out from stress. But the loathing look on everyone's faces said there was more to it. At last, when it finally dawned on him, Sei literally spat out the tea he had just sipped.

"It's not like that!" he shouted, the first words he'd spoken. "I'm not his…I'm, um…still a virgin," he blushed, allowing a curtain of black hair to shield his face, growing redder still at their snickers. _Curse societal double standards…_

To draw attention back to the real matter at hand, Trip popped open the tabs on a suitcase and pulled out the stack of papers that they'd shown at the hospital. "These documents prove that Sei is the rightful leader. They're even signed by Toue himself."

He passed the papers around and each person looked at what Sei had already painstakingly gone through. Sei knew what they were checking for as well, the same thing he too had looked for. Any loopholes. Any leeway or unclear phrasing. Any evidence of tampering or dubious legality. But for all of Toue's faults, he was a shrewd businessman and no stone had been left unturned.

One by one, Sei could see the look of helpless realization etch its way into the face of each person. By the time the papers made their way back to Trip, the room had descended into silence. "So, as you can see," Trip continued, putting the papers back into the briefcase, "Sei-san now holds the majority power for Toue, Inc."

Virus straightened his glasses and politely folded his hands in his lap. "This is the first of many changes that will happen. As of the date signed by Sei-san, he is now the primary leader. He also has stated that he has in mind many ideas that he would like to implement to bring in more revenue for the company. Sei, would you care to give an outline of those ideas for us, please?"

Sei had never mentioned that his plan would make more money but he knew that saying something like that would easily capture everyone's attention. Sitting his teacup down and clearing his throat, his soft voice rang clear in the quiet room. "Most of you have been part of the company since its conception. You played vital parts in assisting Toue-san in expanding the company, getting financial help for new projects, and may even have had early information of the experiments that led to my creation."

At this last part, many eyebrows shot in the air, not understanding what he was referring to. Virus leaned over and whispered, "They…don't know about that. You and Aoba-san were an 'off the books' project."

Sei wasn't surprised.

Continuing on, he said, "I'm very grateful to everything you have contributed and how well you handled this last year in Toue's absence. Your dedication has been most impressive." Of course he and everyone else knew that was utter bullshit, that the company had been one step away from imploding on itself, but again, it sounded pleasant to the ears. "However, I have a new vision for the Toue Konzern, one that would be as grand as, if not better, than Toue's original goal. To make this vision come true though, certain sacrifices will be required. As such, all of you are immediately fired."

Nobody moved. Sei fiddled with the fedora that sat on the tatami mat beside him, quietly counting down from ten. _…Nine…eight…seven…six…five…_

"What the hell?!" One woman screamed, looking like she wanted nothing more than to Hulk Smash the table. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I have," Sei quietly said, his soft voice never changing. "I understand this is very sudden, as it is very sudden for me too. Due to this, I have given all of you severance pay. I expect your offices though to be cleaned out by tomorrow morning."

The one heading the table to his right slammed a sake cup down and stood up. "I didn't want to work at a company run by some damn hipster anyways! But while you were able to get rid of us, remember the shareholders that helped to even put this company on the map! As long as they hold stock, you don't have full power." He turned around to storm out the door and Sei's words followed him.

"You're quite correct, their investments helped to create what is here today. However, I don't need financing for my plans. I simply need to own as much of the company as possible. I've already bought each shareholder off for five times the price they paid for their stock, thus privatizing the company and removing it from the stock market. So yes, I now do hold 100% control."

As the others got up to also ragequit out the door, he realized that neither Virus nor Trip had moved. Trip watched everyone leave with absolute indifference. Sei caught Virus' eye though and noticed that he had gone very still. His eyes were again boring into him, as though it were he that possessed Scrap.

"Sei-san? I would like to know if this change also includes us." His words were as polite as ever, laced with a dangerous edge.

"Yeah, what about us?" Trip repeated.

It of course had crossed Sei's mind to let these two go as well. However, their underground connections might prove useful. And however creepy their fascination with him was, he didn't know squat about running a company. Toue trusted them together as his right-hand…men. Sei would put that same faith in them as well.

The room was now empty save for the three of them and Sei picked back up his teacup, not minding that the drink had become cold. "I'll be keeping you both on. You have known me nearly my entire life and have looked after me. You're invaluable assets."

Not missing the hint of entitlement, the two nodded at his decision. "With that taken care of, Sei-san, it's best we give you a tour of the new facility built in place of Oval Tower. It was only just finished two months ago." Virus said, rising from his seat with Trip trailing him.

Getting up as well, he donned his fedora, straightening the brim. "Certainly, that's fine. Tomorrow though, there's somewhere that I need for you to take me."

"That being…?" Trip inquired.

"To see my brother, Aoba. He and I need to discuss some things…"

* * *

Haha, corporate muckety-mucks 'ragequitting'…I spend too much time online :)


	2. Enlistment

**Enlistment**

It was a little after ten in the morning. The mail had just come in, brought to Aoba by Clear, who was visiting. As Aoba sifted through the pile at the kitchen table, separating bills from the junk, he came across a small post card. He picked it up slowly, scanning the few lines on the back for a return address or anything to show where it'd come from.

The card contained no words except for his name and address. When he flipped it over however, he was met with the brilliant picture of a large, blue butterfly. Sunlight dappled behind it as it flew gracefully in the air, taking Aoba's breath away momentarily at its stunning beauty. Without any reservations, he now knew who had sent it.

Immediately he crumpled up the card and threw it away.

"Wah!" Clear shouted, getting up and pulling it out of the trash can, attempting to straighten it back out on the table. "Aoba-san, why would you do that?! It's so pretty!"

"It's from my parents," he said, as though that explained everything. He got up to go into the living room, picking Ren up off the floor. Clear followed after him, flattening the card against his chest.

"If it's from Aoba-san's parents, shouldn't you treasure it?" he asked. He'd gotten it as flat as it was going to get now and set it on the coffee table. Aoba pointedly kept his gaze fixed on the TV, refusing to look at it.

"I don't see why I should treasure it. It's a cheap post card sent as a half-ass attempt to make up to me. They didn't even have the decency to write something on it. Maybe, 'We're sorry for abandoning you, Aoba'?" He snorted, causing Ren to turn and look at him curiously.

"Aoba, how long has it been since your parents have been away?"

"It was before I met you, Ren. I was about seven."

"I see_,_" Ren said in understanding, thinking for a moment. "That would mean it's been nearly seventeen years. Indeed that is a long time to not see someone that you love. However, are you not able to forgive them? There were extenuating circumstances that prevented them from returning."

"Yeah, what Ren-san said!" Clear seconded. "My grandfather once told me that Toue had closed off all contact from the mainland to Midorijima, including calls, emails, planes…everything. Veeeery scary!" he shuddered dramatically.

Aoba sighed and leaned back, putting an arm over his eyes. "They _knew _of those circumstances before they left. They knew that Toue was starting to crack down on the Old Residents that refused to accept the up-coming building of Platinum Jail. None of that stopped them from leaving anyways."

"Do you resent them for not agreeing with Toue?" Ren asked and Aoba could've sworn he caught a hint of sarcasm there, which was supposed to be nearly impossible for Allmates. Hard to control something that could easily back-talk you.

"I don't resent them for not agreeing with Toue," he muttered, putting Ren aside on the couch to draw his legs up. "Granny once told me that my father was a previous experiment of Toue's. I can't blame him for not wanting to stay still. But…with that life, why adopt me? He introduced me to my mother and by extension, to Granny. They would leave multiple times, each time longer than the last. It was like I was Granny's child instead of theirs. Who does that to their kid? If he couldn't stay here, they could've taken me with them. Did they ever think that maybe I might want to see the world?"

He'd worked hard to keep these emotions down but he also remembered the last time he'd done that. It had backfired badly on him, causing Desire Aoba to fully surface. While he'd come to a peaceful resolution with that half of himself, he didn't want to give that version any reason to take full control again. He was allowed to vent every now and then, wasn't he?

_"_I understand_,_" Ren also agreed. "Still, they're your parents—"

"They signed a piece of paper," Aoba interrupted. "That doesn't make a parent."

Clear looked between Ren and Aoba, nervously nibbling his bottom lip. "Master's face is so scary," he whimpered, seemingly speaking to himself. "I don't like to see him like this. Oh! Aoba-san!"

Aoba groaned, not wanting to continue this conversation. "What?"

"The washer has stopped!" Clear shouted with grave importance and ran out of the room.

"…You know, sometimes I wonder about him," Aoba muttered.

"Clear is Clear. There's no changing that," Ren said in all his Allmate wisdom.

With barely ten seconds having passed though, Clear suddenly appeared around the corner. "Erm…Aoba-san? It looks like you have a visitor. Someone just pulled up in a dark car. _Very _expensive-looking."

Expensive-looking? Nobody Aoba knew even drove since it was more of an inconvenience on the island, unless traveling a long distance. Or maybe…his parents had returned…and came back millionaires?

_That's ridiculous, Aoba. Or…is it? Considering how long they've been gone, it's not entirely impossible…_

He got up and made his way to the door, hearing the first knocking just as he reached the entryway. Without a peephole to first check who it was, he cautiously slid the door open just a crack and peeked out.

"Morning, Aoba!" Sei greeted, giving a polite bow with a wide smile. "I would've called ahead but Virus and Trip said that you've blocked their number and you won't pick up from any other number they call from."

Reeling from the shock, Aoba trailed his eyes to the two standing behind him. There Virus and Trip stood, looking exactly the same as the last time he'd seen them and as immaculate and deceptively cheerful as ever. Aoba had indeed blocked their numbers after their attempted kidnapping of him in Oval Tower and refused to answer any numbers he didn't know.

But putting that aside, he again moved his eyes back to Sei. Hadn't he died? Was Toue now able to…raise the dead?

"I know this is very surprising," Virus said with a smile and a cute tilt of the head. "Sei-san just has a few things he'd like to talk with you about, that's all. We're not here to cause any trouble."

Again shifting his gaze between them, Aoba finally opened the door a little wider. "Sei only," he specified. "I still don't trust either of you. And Granny would have a heart attack if she came home to find yakuza in her house."

"Ahh, that's fine," Trip said with a careless shrug. "We'll just wait in the car. Oh, and Aoba-san?"

He was just ushering his brother inside when Trip's tone made him stop cold. He slowly turned around to look over his shoulder.

Smiling enthusiastically, Trip said, "We're still your biggest fans!" He winked and headed back to the car.

Aoba slammed the door shut and locked it, then whipped around to face Sei, who was taking off his shoes to slide his feet into a pair of guest slippers. "What the hell is going on here? Why are you with them? And why the hell are you still alive?"

"Happy to see you too!" Sei replied with a genuine smile. "Let's sit down and that way, I can explain everything."

Leading him down the hallway, they entered the living room where Clear had returned to, still fidgeting. Upon one look at him though, Sei's breath caught in his voice and he took a step back. "An…an Alpha unit…!"

"Alpha unit? Where?!" Clear panicked, about to make a break for it.

"You!" Sei told him, pointing a finger.

"Me?! I'm not an Alpha! Grandpa said I came before them! Aoba-saaaan, I don't wanna be an Alpha~!" He cried, actually throwing his head back to wail.

Sei looked a little closer, then blinked. "No…you're right. You have slight individual features, like the moles on your chin. Toue had experimented with creating some units that didn't all look alike but the planning took too much time so he defaulted to just churning out clones."

As Clear gave a sigh of relief, Sei moved over to an armchair. Ren had relocated himself to the seat and was curled into a tight ball. His blue-black fur blended with the chair's fabric and without realizing it, Sei sat on him.

Ren gave a high-pitched yelp, the same as a real dog, and scrambled away to the safety of Aoba's lap.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't even see him there!" Sei fretted, looking apologetically at the dog.

"It's…fine," Ren said in his deep voice, but was shaking.

"Oohhh, you're an Allmate! Toue only had weaponized dog Allmates. And I've seen Hersha and Welter, Virus and Trip's snake and lion Allmates as well. But none of them look as cuddly as you," Sei smiled, already falling for Ren's huggable appearance.

"Yep!" Clear agreed, reaching over to pluck Ren from Aoba. "Ren-san is especially cute!"

"Clear, no—!" Ren tried to protest but it was too late. Clear began to fluff his fur and his tiny paws were no match against him.

Ignoring the two, Aoba turned to his brother. "I'm still really curious as to how you survived Oval Tower collapsing. You could barely even sit up, much less walk."

Sei winced as his ailments were highlighted. "That's true. I thought I too would have died. I can't explain how I managed to still be breathing after all of that but the next thing I knew, I was in a hospital with Virus and Trip next to me. They…told me some things. And the outcome of those things is exactly why I'm here."

By his tone of voice, Aoba could tell this was serious. Turning to his side, he plucked Ren from Clear's hands, causing Clear to shout "Hey!" and Ren to cry "Finally!", effectively making both fall silent afterwards. "I understand," Aoba said to Sei. "Go ahead."

Going over everything that had been told to him, Sei brought Aoba up to speed on his new status in the multi-billion yen company. Aoba listened, his eyes steadily getting wider and wider. "But since I didn't make my way through the ranks, there are very few people that I can trust. That's why I want you, nii-san, to be my vice president."

"Eeeh?!" Aoba jerked back. "Me? But I don't know the first thing about running a business."

"Heh, I said the same thing," Sei laughed. "But that's just it. I want someone that's new and would offer fresh perspective. I even fired the board of directors just to make sure that I had full authority. However, I don't mind sharing some of that power with you, Aoba."

"You did _what_?!"

_That probably didn't come out right_, Sei realized. "Look, it had to be done. Otherwise, it would've been yet another group of people that could push me around. Now that I have control, I can help this island. Don't you share the same vision?"

Aoba made a noise in his throat that wasn't quite discernable. "I'm not sure about your vision but as long as Toue is no longer in power, the residents here are happy. If you really want to help, though…then tear down Platinum Jail."

"I can't do that," Sei said, steeling his voice.

"And why not? It's an eyesore. And it takes up a full quarter of the island!"

"And what about the people employed there?" Sei countered.

"Tch, you fired probably the most important part of your staff, I don't think you care too much about employment."

This really was not going as Sei had planned. "The revenue brought in from Platinum Jail can also be used to help get the island running again. Trade, public transportation, maintenance. _Jobs_," he stressed, feeling like a politician. "Platinum Jail is probably the best damn thing to happen to this island!"

That wasn't what he meant to say. That was completely not what he meant to say. Aoba's mouth slowly fell open as his face clouded. "Get out," he commanded.

"Aoba, I didn't mean that—"

"Get out!" Aoba yelled, pointing in the direction of the door. "You can keep your company! I want no part in it!"

With it being too late now, Sei figured it didn't matter if he checked himself and shouted back at him, "Fine then! You'll regret not being on my side! I'll do this all on my own without you, _brother!_" With those ominous words, he stomped back to the entryway in pink bunny slippers, put on his shoes, and snapped the door shut behind him as he left.

As he stormed over to the silent black car waiting beside the road, Virus got out to open the door for him, then climbed back into his seat. "Sei-san…you don't look too well. Did everything go okay?"

"Everything's fine," he said, watching his own reflection in the window as they drove off. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep sigh. When at last he opened them again, a slow smile was spreading on his face. "Yeah…everything is just fine."


	3. Hello, Old Friend

**Hello, Old Friend**

It had taken a crew two months to clear away the rubble that Sei had reduced Oval Tower to after setting off the self-destruct function (how very Toue to even have that feature). Of course, nobody knew it had been an inside job and Sei certainly had no intentions of telling anyone, allowing the public to think it was terrorists. Considering all it represented, nobody was lamenting its destruction.

Sei sat in his office, feet up on the empty glass desk. Today he sported a pair of expensive sneakers, dark jeans and a simple black t-shirt that read "Keep Calm and Conquer On." In a corner of the room was an expansive virtual screen, the newest technology that had replaced physical TV's in most locations of Platinum Jail. In place of Oval Tower, the new structure that had been built was just as equally (and to Sei, just as unnecessarily) tall and had been formally named…Platinum Tower. It wouldn't be winning any awards for creativity but it'd do.

He was using his powers to change the channels as he'd misplaced the remote and didn't feel like getting up, but was snapped out of his channel-surfing by the room intercom giving a soft beep. "Sei-san, he's here to see you," Virus said pleasantly.

"Send him in, please," Sei replied, swiveling in his chair to take his feet down.

"_Hai._"

The door opened up and he watched as Trip graciously bowed to let Akushima enter. He didn't miss the amused grin as he shut the door behind the detective, and Sei knew he was probably highly curious as to what business he had with this man, of all people.

For Akushima's part, he looked just as confused as well. Sei took in his appearance and realized that he looked quite gaunt and stressed. His clothes weren't ironed and his hair looked as though he'd rubbed his fingers through it. It was also impossible to miss the smell of alcohol on him. Yes, Akushima was the poster boy for the troubled police officer.

"Good afternoon," Sei greeted him, giving him a small bow with his head.

"Mn."

"Please, have a seat. Care for any refreshments?" He reached over to the mini-fridge beside his desk and held up a plastic bottle of water and another of green tea.

"Water's fine," the man said and took the bottle while nervously darting his eyes around the room. "Who the hell are you and where's Toue?" he asked.

Sei folded his hands under his chin and smiled benevolently. "Toue-san never returned after what happened last year. However, until the time he makes an appearance again—if he appears again—I've been appointed to operate the company for him. If I'm not mistaken, you worked closely with Toue, correct, Akushima-san?"

This earned him another grunt. "You already know the answer to that question. Why'd you call me here?"

Sei respected that he was a man who didn't care for small talk and as the gruff police officer cliché's stacked up, he leaned back in his chair and smiled wider. "Well, in short, I need you. I need to garner the trust of the island and as you've been on the police force for so long, I figured you could help me with that."

Akushima took a large swig of water, shaking his head. "One, I'm assuming you never got the memo that I actually retired."

"I did," Sei said to his first statement but let him continue.

"Two, nobody trusts me. There's no way in hell I could be some kind of crusader of trust for these people. And frankly, I hate trying to be a white knight anyways."

"I don't want you to be. In fact, I want you to be my dark horse."

The detective scratched at a patch of stubble on his chin, raising an eyebrow. "Eh? What the hell do you have up your sleeves?"

Sei laughed softly and spread his hands innocently. "No tricks up these sleeves. But I do have a really good assignment for you that I feel would be right in your field of expertise. The pay will also be well-worth your effort and if everything is a success, I'll reinstate your retirement fund. When the government initially seized control, they cancelled that for you, right? Please, one more job and then I'll be happy to let you retire peacefully."

The two stared at each other for a long while, Sei with his neutral smile, Akushima with bleary, dark eyes. Finally, Akushima sighed. "You know, for some random little shit, you sound a lot like him."

Before Sei could catch himself, his face immediately clouded. "What, Toue? I assure you, we're nothing alike."

Akushima attempted to roll his eyes but in his half-drunken state, it nearly resulted in him becoming disoriented and falling out his chair. "Whatever. So what's the job and how much you paying?"

By the time Sei was finished, he hoped he had done a decent job with gaining the detective's trust. Well, trust was a strong word. And it was clear the man held very little respect for him. But something had certainly changed in his posture.

The man sighed again and scratched his dirty hair, flakes and motes catching in the noon sunlight. "And you _swear_ I can retire after this? None of that _Mission: Impossible _or _Die Hard _crap with old cops doing shit that the young generation should handle themselves, right?"

_Die Hard? Mission Impossi—what?! _Sei very quickly extended his conscious to scan the Internet and immediately came back with information about two popular American movie franchises. _Ahh_, _I get it now._ "Yes, after this, I will no longer have need of your services and you're free to do whatever you wish."

Akushima gave a grin befitting a wolf and shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. When do I begin?"

~.~.~

"Look man, all I asked for was vodka, half and half, on the rocks, shaken, not stirred, with a sprig of mint, a wedge of lemon and a pinch of salt. Is that so hard to get right?"

Clear had bowed to the customer so many times, he thought his back was going to short circuit. "P-please forgive me!" he apologized yet again, his hands shaking as they clenched the bottom of his bartender vest. "I promise I'll remake it!" Before the man could say anything else, he snatched the glass from the table and beat a fast retreat to the bar.

He'd been working at Black Needle for three months and had thought he had finally learned the tricks of the job. Through weeks of stammering with customers and breaking countless glasses, Mizuki had been patient in training him and had commended his work. He'd even become good at telling patrons that were smashed and getting rowdy to leave without ever having to get physical.

…Okay, there'd been _one _customer who'd gotten drunk and had hit on Aoba when he was visiting. Clear had never experienced jealousy before and found it something quite difficult to control. Clear couldn't very well come out and tell the guy he was dating Aoba so…he told him with his fist. Aoba refused to speak to him for the rest of the evening and then the next morning, both apologized to each other, Clear of course for knocking the guy's lights out and Aoba for not understanding that Clear didn't know how to correctly express himself.

Back behind the counter, Clear tried his hardest to remember what the request had been. "It was vodka…with rocks…no, that's not right! They wanted a wedge of mint…and a pinch of lemon…but only half? Waah~! Mizuki-san never showed me this!"

As he tried multiple times to mix everything together properly, the customer at the end of the bar let out a loud huff. "Geez, it's not _that _hard! Fine, I'll just take a Coke."

Just as Clear was about to pass the drink to him with a relieved sigh, the door burst open and in a magnified voice, they heard someone yell "WHAT'S THAT ABOUT COKE?!"

There stood Akushima with his ever-present megaphone. Behind him, multiple police officers in riot gear swarmed in, blocking off all exits. Looking extremely pleased with himself, Akushima grinned at the stunned crowd. "We've been casing this joint for months on the tip that this place is operating a drug ring! I want everyone on the ground NOW! If anybody moves, there'll be hell to pay!" As to emphasize this, the front of the megaphone opened up to reveal a multi-barreled gun.

Clear trembled as he went to his knees, hands behind his head. Hadn't this man retired? Everyone had rejoiced when word had gotten around that he was no longer working, finally feeling like they could relax. Maybe retirement just didn't suit the guy. Either way, this was bad, this was _real _bad.

As the police officers began to arrest people, each person was patted down, all items confiscated. Money was taken from wallets and pocketed with the remains thrown in a plastic evidence bag. Just as someone was making their way towards Clear, he heard a commotion outside and a moment later, Mizuki appeared, looking highly pissed-off.

"What the hell is going on here?" he shouted, pushing his way inside.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to take a step back," an officer said, but Mizuki easily knocked his arm out of the way, causing Akushima to turn around and train the gun on him.

"You…I thought you were done working!" Mizuki yelled, taking a step to the side to try to get out of the line of fire, but a red laser trailed his movement.

"Yeah, but I got a rather interesting proposition that I couldn't refuse." Or, as Akushima figured, he'd be a fool to. "Surrender the drugs willingly and maybe we'll let you take a plea deal!"

Still backing away, Mizuki swore under his breath before calling out, "Dry Juice! ATTACK!"

The many members of his gang sprang up off the floor, rushing as one toward the police. There were way more in number than cops and as they whooped in their inevitable victory, a streak of white singed very close to Mizuki's ear, causing the entire group to come to a halt.

"Move and your leader gets it," the detective threatened, the gun already reloaded with each barrel whining. The next shot would fire multiple rounds that would be much harder to miss. In frustrated despair, they backed up, hands held high in surrender. "That's right…now, tell us where the drugs are and nobody gets hurt."

"Wow, you're getting senile, old man," Mizuki laughed, even with his own hands up. "Where the hell did you get that we have—"

"Found it!" Came a shout from the back of the building and an officer stepped out of one of the secluded lounge rooms with a small Ziploc bag filled partially with a white substance.

"Bingo!" Akushima cackled.

"You planted that!" Mizuki screamed, fighting as two men wrestled him to the ground and put him in cuffs. "That's not mine!"

"THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY!" Akushima yelled into the megaphone, causing everyone to cringe. "ARREST THEM! ARREST THEM, ARREST THEM, ARREST THEM! THEY'RE ALL CRIMINALS! FURTHERMORE…" He leaned over the bar counter, causing Clear to shrink down to hopefully avoid being noticed. Instead, his eyes were trailing the wall, particularly focusing on something that'd been put in a frame. "THIS LIQUOR LICENSE IS EXPIRED! YOU HAVE BEEN UNLAWFULLY OPERATING A BUSINESS WITHOUT THE PROPER LEGAL DOCUMENTATION! TAKE ALL OF THESE DEGENERATES! AAAAAALLL OF THEEEEM!"

This last blow took the wind out of Mizuki and without struggling, he allowed himself to be dragged into an awaiting armored police truck. Also sunk by the news, the other members barely fought back either and in an orderly fashion were guided outside. Clear, still behind the bar, shifted to his hands and knees and was beginning to crawl away when Akushima refocused on him.

"Oi, you! Stand up slowly and don't try any funny business! You're coming with me personally."

"M-me?" Clear trembled. Oh no…his grandfather once had warned him that something like this would happen if he showed his face. He had thought that it was related to Toue and the Alpha units but…was this what he was talking about?

While he could take a few rounds of Akushima's modified megaphone, he didn't want to risk damaging himself when he was now outnumbered. It'd taken over a year to fully get all of his functions fixed and it'd been a close call at that, eventually resulting in his consciousness being transferred into an Alpha's body. He knew he might not be so lucky if he was to break down like that again and not only that, but he didn't want to inconvenience Tae-san and Aoba.

Aoba… "Master…I'm sorry," he whispered as he was led away to a separate car.

With the building now nearly cleared, Akushima held up the small baggie with gloved hands. "In truth, I didn't think we'd really find anything but whaddaya know. Besides, isn't dry juice just another name for crack? Smart bastards thought nobody would catch on. Well, while we're here…"

Licking his pinky, he opened the bag and dipped it in, then tasted it. "Oh wow, this shit's the real deal!" he laughed impressively.

"Aku…shima…what are you doing?" One of the officers said, the only one left in the room.

"Relax, what's the most they can do, fire me? Tch, I'm retiring again after this job." With that, he opened the bag further and spread a thin line on the bar. Using a rolled yen note, he deftly snorted the line, going over it twice to make sure he'd cleared it all. "DAMN! That's some premium blow!" Turning to the other guy, he held the yen out to him. "Want some?"

The other guy paled. "N-no..." the man declined, backing away.

Akushima shrugged, unrolled the note and used what was left on the edges to smear on his fingers and rub around in his mouth. "Whatever. Let's go."

They left Black Needle with upturned tables and broken glass everywhere, not even bothering to fully shut the door behind them. After the vehicles drove off, the room was filled with a dark silence. Suddenly from under the wreckage, a small mound of splintered wood quivered before something small and cubed popped out.

"Pi!" It cried and began a frantic hop out the open door to provide this new information to its master.

* * *

I implemented some of the themes from Clear's drama CD in here, which I'm really happy I stumbled across in time for this story. And yes, Clear is wearing a bartender outfit. Just think…Shizuo Heiwajima's outfit from _Durarara!_


	4. And One For All

**And One For All**

It was currently eleven in the morning in Platinum Jail with the rays of the sun flooding the outdoor café. Sei took in a deep breath and exhaled happily. As the amusement park was no longer just for the rich, he'd opted to change the atmosphere entirely by allowing the varying times of day to show. While there was still a dome that could be used in the event it rained, on sunny days like today, it was retracted to allow in natural light and air. It also helped to assuage his slight case of claustrophobia. The initial purpose of the location was to give a feel of exclusivity but to him, it just reminded him day after day of how trapped he was with Toue.

But that was the past. Right now, here in the present, he was enjoying a large crêpe for breakfast. There was nobody to tell him no (not that he'd listen to them anyways). In fact, two-thirds of his current company encouraged the idea.

On either side of him sat Trip and Virus, smiling benevolently. Just as Sei was lifting the crêpe to his mouth for a bite, a strawberry fell out and bounced on his plate, rolling in almost a forlorn manner to the edge. "Aww, it escaped," Trip pouted. Before Sei could pick the fruit up, Trip plucked the fork from his hands and poked it for him, holding it out. "Open up and say _ahh!_" he encouraged, as though speaking to a child.

Sei couldn't control the blush and shyly turned away. "I'm an adult, I can feed myself," he protested but Trip didn't seem to be paying attention as he began to push the strawberry against his lips. The more he resisted, the harder Trip pressed until the tines on the fork began to poke him rather painfully. With a huff, he allowed the man to push the strawberry inside and pulled it off. Trip watched in absolute glee, very slowly removing the fork from his mouth.

"That's a good boy," he murmured gently, lovingly. "Do you like it?"

Sei shrugged and nodded. It was a strawberry. It tasted as a strawberry should. It wasn't anything spectacular.

Suddenly, Virus leaned forward and ran a finger through his plate, picking up a stray plop of whipped cream. "Sei-san, this fell out too," he said eagerly, as though needing to one-up his companion. "It's no good to waste. It's always polite to eat _all _of your food."

He was still chewing on the strawberry and didn't have time to react before Virus began to push his finger into his mouth. Ideally, Sei wanted to say something bold, about someone putting their fingers in someone else's mouth, not knowing where their hands had been, but the look on Virus' face silenced him. As the finger touched his tongue, he actually felt Virus tremble slightly. His eyes narrowed to sensuous slits behind his glasses and a soft flush graced his cheeks.

After several heartbeats, the finger was withdrawn, also reluctantly. Sei took that time to hurry up and swallow and maybe enjoy his meal without being hand-fed, but now Trip boldly swiped cream directly off of the crêpe and said, "Aw, no fair. Sei, you should _do me_ next." The words were a low rumble in his throat, like a lion purring.

In the moment it took Sei to try to come up with a response, the fourth person at the table loudly cleared their throat. "_Ahem_. Sei-san, please. Why did you bring me here? I don't understand anything that's happening," Clear said, sitting in a chair directly across from Sei.

Sei had almost forgotten that the android was there but welcomed the distraction. "My apologies," he said quietly. "It's been quite rough, these last twelve hours, hasn't it? I had asked for you to be brought directly to me but I see that Akushima couldn't resist defying part of my instructions and had you in a holding cell. I'm sorry."

After being dragged from Black Needle, Clear had been put in a separate police car from all the others that had been arrested and was taken to Platinum Jail. With no official crime ever charged against him, other than being in the right place (his job) at the wrong time, he'd been made to sit in holding throughout the night. He'd been stripped of his Coil and worse still, the cell blocked all noise from the outside, meaning he couldn't even hear Aoba if he wanted to. Feeling utterly alone, he'd curled up on the tiny bed provided and softly sang the Jellyfish Song until he could fall asleep.

When he'd finally been let out, he'd been handcuffed again and driven to this current location, a sweets café within the Aqua Forest district. He'd been thoroughly surprised to find Sei waiting for him as the two had barely spoken to each other the last time they'd met. Why would he want to see _him_, of all people? Clear now sat in his seat, wringing his hands nervously.

"I need a favor from you, Clear, and I do regret having to ask this after only meeting you once. However, I'm not certain who else I could've approached," Sei mumbled.

The words were humbling and Clear was helpless before them. "S-sure! If there's anything I can do to help, I'll certainly give it my best!" He sat up straighter, thrilled that someone found him important enough to ask for help.

"I know this is going to be a lot, but…I need for you to convince Aoba to side with me. In fact, it's rather imperative that he works alongside me."

Clear felt something in him plummet. He hadn't forgotten the fight Aoba and Sei had gotten into, but he'd opted that it was none of his business, a dispute between siblings that'd gotten a little out of hand. Didn't these things happen?

Well, with his own "siblings", disputes meant battling to the death against each other. He realized he probably wasn't the best person to judge the severity of familial arguments. Either way, Aoba had been adamant that he wanted nothing to do with Sei, so he wanted to respect that.

"While I wish that both you and master would get along, Aoba-san still hasn't changed his mind," Clear told him. "After you left, even I tried to get him to reconsider but it didn't work. I'm sorry, Sei-san, there's nothing I can do."

Sei took a healthy bite of his food with his small fork, patting his mouth with a napkin before setting both down. Leaning forward, he put his elbows on the table, his hands linked under his chin. "I figured that'd be the case and I wish that I could take back what happened but what is done is done. Plus, I still believe in Platinum Jail. But Clear, there's also something else I'd like to address. When we first met, I mistook you for an Alpha unit. I had figured I was mistaken afterwards due to your unique birthmarks but…I was right, wasn't I?"

Clear shamefully lowered his eyes. "I didn't have a lot of choices. My self-regenerative function in my original body no longer worked. The only way to keep me alive was to transfer my conscious into an Alpha's body."

"I figured something like that is what happened," Sei nodded. "Virus and Trip here tell me that you had destroyed the key lock within your original body in order to succeed in a battle against other Alpha units. I'm quite amazed at you, to have the will and freedom to make such a powerful choice. That's very unusual…"

Tilting his head to the side, Clear blinked in confusion. "What is it_?" _he asked, not understanding the issue.

"Oh, nothing. Well…it's just that, you're not supposed to be able to defy your master's orders, correct? But you weren't exactly raised around Toue, were you? You lived in the junk yard in the Northern district with a man named Hiroshima Sakaguchi until his death three years ago. You buried his body by the sea and then returned to that home and went into, essentially, 'sleep mode' until you reawakened last year after hearing what you thought was Toue's voice but was really my brother's voice. Am I correct, so far?"

Clear stood up so fast, the table was nearly knocked over. Virus and Trip immediately stood with him, blocking him on either side. "How do you know all of this?" His voice trembled. This information had never been told to anyone other than Aoba. Some parts he could understand Sei knowing, such as the man's name that he lived with, as he was a former employee of Toue's. But everything else…he'd been careful and covert. At least, he had thought so…

"How I know this information is only for me to know," Sei informed him, leaning back. "I mentioned all of that though for a reason. I'm asking for you to help bring Aoba to my side. You've always been property of Toue, Inc, but with your key lock destroyed in your initial body, it put you outside of anyone's control. However, you don't have that luxury this time. I'm sure Tae Seragaki and her researcher friend wouldn't have a second spare Alpha as they're rare enough as is. So you're going to want to do everything in your power to protect your new body."

"Toue's control over you also failed because his Scrap was generic," Sei continued. "But did you know that I can also use Scrap?"

Clear didn't.

"But I don't want to use that method. I actually nearly died from being forced to over-use my ability. This said, I hope that this has put some things in perspective," the young man smiled, an innocent and shy smile. "I don't want to force you to do anything as I've been there and that's not a fun place to be. So, will you bring me Aoba?"

It was here that Clear realized he was scared. He was able to face Toue because he knew Aoba was his true master. But he knew his will wouldn't be able to hold out against another authentic Scrap user, not in this new body. And no matter how Sei tried to sugar-coat it, this was extortion. But he loved Aoba and now, he knew he didn't want him anywhere near his brother. If he refused, well…he would pay heavily. But anything to protect his master—

"Oh, and Clear?" Sei interrupted his scrambled thoughts. "Please remember that we have Mizuki and the members of Dry Juice also in custody. Drugs were found on the premises. It's possible they might not see a judge for a hearing for several weeks. But certainly not all of them can be guilty? And maybe…none of them are guilty. Wouldn't you like to help release your friends?"

Clear gasped, feeling his legs weaken. Sacrificing himself to save Aoba was one thing. It would be selfish but he could accept that. But if his sacrifice saved one and endangered over a dozen others…it wouldn't be a sacrifice any more. It would be a coward's way of escaping.

He hung his head, his hair hiding his struggle to not cry.

"_Kuria_," Sei cooed his name. "Which is it going to be?"

"Alright…I'll do it," Clear whispered, his voice breaking.

Sei's face absolutely radiated. "I'm really glad to hear that! I'm certainly counting on you." He stood up as well and gave a polite bow. "Please, do your best!" he cheered.

No reply was given. Clear was ushered by Virus and Trip to another car and escorted outside of Platinum Jail, left not far from the secret entrance in the wreckage that had become the Northern district.

~.~.~

Late the previous evening, Noiz had been woken up by something jumping on his chest repeatedly. The room had been dark for the most part except for a few computer monitors that were still lit. As the incessant bouncing continued, he groggily swiped his hand, sending something flying across the room and crashing into a wall.

"Pi! Wake up! Something big has happened! Something big!" the item squeaked, actually shaking off and hopping back towards him.

Noiz blinked and rubbed his bleary eyes to take in the form of one of his bunny cubes. At the shrillness of its voice, the other cubes he kept on his desk also began to come out of sleep mode and came closer too. This often gave him either the feeling of holding court for an audience or that they were surrounding him, ready to take him out and begin initiating the robot apocalypse.

He really had to stop watching so many movies before bedtime.

Now that he was awake though, he sat up more and turned toward the cube that had spoken. "What do you mean something big's happened?"

"Mizuki! Clear! Gone! All gone!" It cried. "Akushima took them!"

Noiz wasn't particularly friendly with Clear or Mizuki and his gang. However, he was friends with Aoba and knew these people were important to him, especially Clear and whatever weird relationship they had between them (Noiz wasn't sure he wanted to know). And the fact that Akushima was involved as well was also intriguing. The old man had come out of retirement…just for this? How very unlike him. Megaphone laser gun aside, Akushima was a rather predictable man. Something wasn't adding up.

"Show me what you saw," Noiz commanded.

"Pi!" The cube lit up, then a concentrated beam of light played on the wall and like a projector, the video of the arrests were shown.

"A tip-off about Black Needle selling drugs? I agree, that bag was likely planted," Noiz said, echoing Mizuki's sentiment from the video. "Maybe Akushima's doing this just for spite but I don't think so. And why arrest Clear separately? It's probably best to contact Aoba. He knows Mizuki and Clear best."

He looked at the clock and saw that by now, it was eleven at night. In their adventures a year ago, he'd had no qualms about breaking into Aoba's house but that was before he'd met Tae. He wasn't keen on inciting her wrath again. With no further information to be gleamed from the Usagimodoki, he powered the cubes off and lay down.

He allowed his mind to spin over the matter until finally, he again drifted off to sleep.


	5. Breakfast at Tae's

This chapter contains some more mentions of the drama CDs but I also kinda had fun with some of that background information. Don't worry, it's not a plot changer or anything, just wanted to personalize things a little bit. Now, go devour this new chapter :)

* * *

**Breakfast at Tae's**

When daylight broke, Noiz groggily rolled out of bed, his strawberry-blonde hair sticking up everywhere. In his sleepiness, he didn't notice the cube on the floor until it was too late. He stepped on it with his full bodyweight, causing him to flinch back, grabbing his foot in pain.

"The hell…? Would it have killed you to _move_?" he snarled.

"Pi!" The cube cried and tried to get out of the way but was too slow. Now fully awake, Noiz snatched it up. Turning to his bedroom window, he opened it before throwing the cube far into the distance.

"PIIIIIIIIIiiiiiii…!" It cried, the sound fading as it grew further away.

He slammed the window shut and turned back to the room. "Anyone else wants to be next?!" Noiz asked the rest of the cubes, who were situated properly on his desk. They squeaked and shook their heads no. Satisfied, he continued with his routine of getting ready for the day.

Just as he was about to leave, clipping the chain of Usagimodoki around his waist, he heard a very quiet tapping on the front door. Grabbing his apartment key, he opened the door to see the cube that he'd chucked, looking rather battered and bruised. "Piii?" it pleaded.

With a groan, he picked it up. "Next time, I'll put a book on top of you for a week so you can't move," he threatened, slipping it on alongside the others. He didn't miss the glance the others gave it before flicking their eyes at him and then away. He really was beginning to feel like it was just a matter of time before they attempted to take him out. Let them try; he, Wilhelm, would not go down easily!

He headed down the street, his first destination not exactly planned out. This was at no fault of his own. The person he needed was never at one location any particular day which made him wonder how the hell the man consistently stayed in business. And considering his dislike of the person to begin with, this just made him hate the person even more. Yes, he needed to track down _Koujaku._

After thinking it over the night before, he realized that perhaps his relationship with Aoba was a bit too shaky to knock on the door himself. He had rather rudely broke into his house, used Aoba's computer, roughed him up and then refused to leave until he'd challenged him to a Rhyme battle. Of which he eventually lost anyways, thus pretty much ending their ties with each other. However, Aoba was best friends with Koujaku. He would serve as his ticket into the Seragaki home.

His stomach let loose a ferocious growl, reminding him that he hadn't eaten yet and demanded sustenance. He still wasn't fully used to Japanese cuisine and found it hard to find places he really liked. Which one would figure due to his lineage, being submitted to Japanese foods would be a given. Alas, while his family delved into multiple facets of Japanese culture, from pottery to music to even _speaking _Japanese at home with equal fluency as German (and English; this was taught in preparation of him running a major business), very few Japanese foods were made at home. Now that he was an adult, he finally found out why. His parents saw regular Japanese cuisine beneath their lifestyle.

Giving a sigh, he pushed the thoughts of his family from his mind and concentrated on his search. After making his way into the heart of the Eastern district where most of the stores were located, he became aware of a buzz going on outside one of the shops. Usually this meant one of two things. One, a Rhyme battle was about to happen. Usui was no longer used though, which if he was going to be honest, the change hit his pockets rather hard. He managed to still make a living by taking bets on Rhyme battles but it wasn't as assured as using algorithms to predict Usui appearances. And he couldn't place bets frequently on his own team, Ruff Rabbit, as his winning streak preceded him. Nevermind that Aoba had beaten him…twice.

So that meant this crowd could only mean one other thing…

He shoved his way through the throng of people to find the one, the only, the playboy himself…Koujaku.

"Ladies, ladies! Please, form a line! I promise I'll be more than happy to take care of each of you. There's no need to push!"

Noiz made his way to the front, rudely pushing a group of girls aside and placed himself right in front of Koujaku, making him pause and slowly set down the scissors in his hand. "Well, didn't know you were that eager to see me," Koujaku said impressively. "I usually only do women's hair but maybe…you couldn't resist?"

"Don't get full of yourself. There's something I need to talk with you about," Noiz said, hands curled in his pockets.

"Privately? My, you're really getting greedy, aren't you? " Koujaku laughed.

For a moment, Noiz thought about saying forget it to getting Koujaku's help but then he reigned in his irritation. "Mizuki's been dragged off to jail by Akushima along with most of the members of Dry Juice."

If the gaggle of girls weren't noisy before, now they had reached a crescendo.

"Whaa? Mizuki-san's been arrested?"

"Did Black Needle close?"

"Akushima's back?!"

Realizing the detective's wrath could rain down on them at any moment for any little thing, the girls scattered, leaving only Noiz and Koujaku standing on the corner of the street, alone.

Koujaku groaned; he wouldn't be making any money today. "Did you have to blurt that so damn loud?"

Noiz shrugged, happy to be rid of the female froth fest. "It worked. Oh, and Akushima personally took Clear into custody instead of with the others."

Koujaku was beginning to repack his supplies but paused when he heard this. "Clear? What'd Clear do?"

Noiz shrugged again. "Don't know. I wasn't there myself but one of my cubes filmed it all. Also, Akushima said something about retiring again after that bust. What I don't get is why he'd come out just for that sting alone and then quit. I think…" he trailed off, musing.

"Someone's greasing his palms," Koujaku finished for him. "Shit. This isn't good. In the past, it was Toue, but Toue is still missing…right?"

"As far as I'm aware of, but if they've rebuilt the Tower, then there has to be a bigshot at the top. I'm willing to bet they're the ones pulling the strings here. But, I don't know MIzuki or Clear that well so I figured you could speak to Aoba about them."

"Yeah, Aoba knows both of them better than I do," Koujaku nodded, finished with repacking his equipment. Turning to go, he cast a suspicious stare back at Noiz, whose expression remained calm and impassive. "What's any of this to you anyways? You know less about Clear and Mizuki than I do and they're certainly no friends of yours. What's in it for you for bailing them out?"

"Heh…you know, I'm not the irresponsible troublemaker you think I am," Noiz told him, turning his own back. "I actually have some integrity to assist others. But if whatever is going on has targeted Mizuki and Clear, of all people, none of us might be safe. It's best to get to the bottom of this. Besides," he looked over his shoulder and grinned. "If it were you, I'd do the same. Would you do the same for me?"

Koujaku's face flushed red and he looked away. "Whatever," he muttered. "I'm putting my stuff up and heading to Aoba's house. I expect you to be there in half an hour." He walked off without waiting for a reply.

Grinning wider at his victory, Noiz headed down the street to find his target for breakfast.

~.~.~

Later on, Koujaku walked down the quiet lane leading to Aoba's home, turning the current situation over in his mind. Things were starting to get bizarre, just like they had last year. Just when everyone was finally starting to relax and rebuild the island, it looked like everything wasn't finished quiet yet. To kill a hydra, cutting off a single head isn't enough. It would seem that even without Toue at the forefront, Toue, Incorporated was still very much alive and well.

When he reached the house, he saw that Noiz was already standing out front, leaning against the wall that surrounded the outer perimeter and nibbling on something in his hand. As he drew closer, he saw that it looked to be a jam filled riceball.

"You're late," the teen said, never looking up.

"It's now been exactly a half hour," Koujaku snapped back, checking his Coil. "I'm exactly on time."

"If you're on time, you're late," Noiz said, finishing off his food and wiping his hands with the folded handkerchief he kept in his shirt pocket.

_And here we go again,_ Koujaku thought, already feeling his metaphorical hackles rise. "Say what the hell you want; I don't argue with little bean sprouts."

Noiz cast him that infuriating grin again. "And what a noble _old _man you are."

"Oi! Twenty-eight isn't old! Besides, you're one to talk, _kid_!"

"I'm nearly twenty. And twenty-eight is close to thirty. Like I said, _old_."

"Well if I'm old, you're a baby! You're not even an adult by Japan's standards! Why don't you piss off back to your mommy so she can—"

Suddenly the front door of the house swung open and a very unmistakable voice screamed, "WHAT THE _HELL _ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE MY HOUSE?! BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP! IT'S TOO DAMN EARLY FOR ALL OF THAT!"

Both men actually shrank back, cowering away from Tae's wrath. "Yes, ma'am. _Gomen-nasai,_ Tae-san," they both muttered meekly, their squabble instantly forgotten.

Still glaring at them, she asked, "What is it that you want? If you're looking for Aoba, he's not here."

Koujaku gasped and looked up. "He's gone already? Do you know where he went?"

She grunted, but then her steam left her and she sighed. "Something about needing to speak to his brother. Could've sworn that boy had died the year before but maybe Toue's technology found a way to bring him back. I honestly wouldn't be surprised. Either way, there was something about the look on Aoba's face when he said he needed to go. He didn't look himself…speaking of which, neither did Clear…"

Her voice trailed off with a mutter, but Noiz instantly picked up on the name. "Clear? Is he here right now?"

She shrugged, turning to go back inside but keeping the door open. "He's here but for once he's not been very talkative today, which worries me. You two come on inside, it's not good to talk about this out in the open."

They followed her in, taking their shoes off at the genkan. She led them into the kitchen where familiar and delicious smells were coming from. Without being told, they took a seat at the table and watched as she continued to prepare the food. While at the stove, she called to them, "Set the table. There's going to be four of us."

As Koujaku got up, he took a peek at the food and saw that there was plenty for everyone. Did she normally fix that much? Then again, he smiled at the fact that Aoba was quite popular. Being friends with himself and Mizuki by extension made him friends with both the members of Benishigure and Dry Juice. Plus he had random friends he'd made from his previous jobs. It was probably common for people to drop by and everyone bragged about Tae's cooking. Between those two combinations, the house likely got a lot of visitors so it was common for extra food to be on hand.

He sat the bowls on the table at each spot and Noiz dutifully placed a pair of chopsticks on top of them. They helped her to bring the food over before she had a seat, sitting at the head with Koujaku to her left and Noiz to her right.

"_Itadakimasu_," They said solemnly together, before delving in. Dishes clinked quietly as they filled their bowls.

Midway through the meal, a thumping could be heard on the staircase and the door to the kitchen slid back to reveal Clear. As an android, he couldn't fall victim to bags under his eyes but still they were downcast and he looked a breath away from having an emotional breakdown.

"Mornin'," he mumbled and pulled himself up a seat. Instead of touching any of the food, he sighed and hung his head down to his chest.

The other three occupants met each other's gazes and then turned back to him. "You should eat something, Clear," Tae tried to coax.

"Not hungry," he said wearily. "Besides, I don't really need to eat…you know that."

"Well _excuse me_!" Tae huffed into her tea.

Noiz frowned at him and was just about to ask him to clarify that last part when Koujaku said, "What's with the kicked puppy-dog eyes? Is it related to Aoba?"

Clear gasped hard enough to choke on his artificial saliva, but didn't cough. "You know about Aoba? How? Nobody even saw what happened!"

Koujaku easily moved his eyes over to Noiz, raising an eyebrow as though to say, "Your turn." Noiz swallowed a bite and said casually, "I had an Usagimodoki in Black Needle. It managed to film the raid."

Clear took a moment to think that over. "You…placed an Allmate inside? Are you spying on Mizuki-san?!"

"Yeah, Noiz, are you spying?" Koujaku said, that infuriating grin coming back.

It would've been lovely for him to vault the kitchen table and deck the hairdresser in the mouth but Noiz withheld. "Even if Usui isn't around, I'm still an information broker. Besides, you should be happy I saw what happened. We're actually here to help. _Right_, Koujaku?"

"Uh…ye-yeah. Say, where did Aoba go? We actually wanted to speak with him about what happened to you but didn't expect him to be gone already."

"Aoba…went to see his brother," Clear told them, his hand curling into a fist on the table. For a second, an uncharacteristic flash of anger passed over his face before being blinked away.

Koujaku wrinkled his nose in confusion. "But…didn't he die? Aoba said he used Scrap on him to kill his brother on his own wishes. So…he didn't die?"

Clear sighed and without thinking, he picked up a bread roll from the basket on the table. Taking a small bite, he shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think the Scrap failed. He told me that he can also use Scrap too. Oh, and by the way, thank you for the food," he said, giving a belated grace but with no enthusiasm.

But this was completely missed by several eating utensils being slammed back down. "He can use Scrap?!" Noiz nearly shouted.

"Now I _know _something isn't right," Koujaku worried, his eyes actually meeting Noiz's without animosity. "Clear, how do you know all of this? Is that were you went when you were arrested?"

Clear nodded. "They put me in a holding cell overnight before taking me to Platinum Jail. I spoke with Aoba-san's brother Sei and he was with those scary-looking guys, the twins."

Noiz and Koujaku grunted, Noiz saying, "They are not twins," while at the same time, Koujaku said, "They're not twins."

"Oh. Well, they wanted me to bring Aoba to him. He…he said that if I didn't, he'd hurt me. Or Mizuki and Dry Juice. They were taken to jail but after the raid, I didn't see them again. But, I'm mainly scared for Aoba," Clear admitted, also putting his food down.

Continuing, he said "Aoba had a fight with Sei-san when he came to visit previously. He wanted Aoba to join him for something but Aoba refused. I didn't understand it all. After being released today, I explained everything to him but he got this really scary look on his face and charged out the house before I could stop him. I think he's going to Platinum Tower but even with Platinum Jail being publicly opened now, I don't think I could get into there…"

The young man hung his head and they heard him sniffle. Tae, who had been mostly quiet, gave an expectant look at Noiz and Koujaku, both sighing and giving an understanding nod.

"C'mon, let's do this one more time. For Aoba!" Koujaku cheered, pumping a fist.

"Really?" Clear asked, shocked that they still wanted to help him. "You're actually gonna join me?"

"Might as well," Noiz muttered, wiping his mouth and standing up. "Besides, he owes me a Rhyme rematch."

"Again?!" Everyone said, even Tae.

"Shut up!" he snapped, blushing.

Clear smiled brightly before standing as well and giving a deep bow. "Thank you so much! Aoba-san's lucky to have such great friends like you."

The two grunted and looked away, but after a moment, Noiz said, "Well, if we're really going to make this work, we're going to need some more help."

"Eh? Who?" Koujaku asked.

"Someone that knows Midorijima's prison system," Noiz said, watching as Koujaku's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Oh no…not _that _guy!"

At his discomfort, a grin flitted to the teen's face. "Oh yes, _that_ guy. We're going to need to have a talk with Mink."


	6. Drawn Together

**Drawn Together**

After breakfast, Clear, Noiz and Koujaku headed for the northern district of Midorijima where the members of Scratch were rumored to hang out. Clear was anxious to quickly catch up with Aoba and would've preferred to hop the roofs of the houses but that'd leave the other two behind. Or, there was also the option of carrying them, but he felt that action was a sacred one between he and Aoba only.

They knew they were close when a large shack came into view, surrounded by heaps of miscellaneous debris. Clear wondered if it'd be wise to just walk up to the door and knock but no sooner had the thought crossed his mind that a gun was shoved roughly into his back. Likewise, he could see the same had happened to Koujaku and Noiz, both having the sense to freeze immediately.

"Who the hell are you punks?" one of them said.

"Haha…we mean no trouble," Koujaku said lightly, causing Noiz to groan. "We're just looking for Mink."

Now that Clear thought about it, he wondered if Mink was even on the island anymore. Aoba had told him that Mink's purpose for being there was to exact revenge on Toue. Now that the tycoon was no longer in power, he probably had gone back to his home country.

But to his surprise, one of the men said, "He ain't here. He disbanded Scratch after that whole Platinum Jail fiasco." There was a hint of sadness to the voice and Clear felt the gun against his back weaken; now was the time to take advantage.

Quickly he spun around and grabbed the long barrel of the rifle, easily bending the metal backwards. The other two members that had their weapons pointed at Noiz and Koujaku turned to train their weapons on him next but he twisted their guns as well, rendering all three useless. He only hoped there weren't any others waiting in the shadows.

Just as he was about to run a heat scan to check, he heard a bloodcurdling scream from right next to him. He looked over to see Noiz had gone pale, his body shaking as he slowly backed away. "What _are _you?!"

Hearing that hurt Clear more than Noiz would ever know. "I'm something manmade," he admitted, lowering his eyes. "Toue created me with the intention of using myself and others like me to control humans. But it's okay now!" He perked up, smiling wide. "My grandpa fixed me so that I don't have to follow Toue's orders anymore. I get to make my own decisions."

He thought these were the right words to say but judging by the increasing look of horror on Noiz's face, he guessed not. The boy immediately whipped around and broke out running, yelling something that sounded like, "It's happening! We're dead, we're fucking dead!"

Nobody made a move to go after him. "You know, I have _never _liked him," Koujaku said with an air of not being shocked by the dramatic outburst. "I don't even understand how he's scared of you when he's the biggest tech geek I've ever seen."

Clear sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare off Noiz-san. But we should go get him. He can help us to get Master back." He started running in the direction he saw Noiz head and, reluctantly, Koujaku followed.

Their chase led them to another part of the northern district, an area that even Clear realized he'd never seen before, even with all of his exploring. Unlike the rubble that covered most of that portion of the island, this area looked like it hadn't been torn down yet. Large apartment buildings that had been cleared out ages ago still stood and in relatively good condition. Soon the buildings faded from sight to be replaced with houses not unlike Aoba's own.

They could just see Noiz's figure round a corner of the neighborhood, then vanish from sight. That's it, enough was enough. Without thinking, he leapt high into the air, soaring over several city blocks, his figure eclipsing the sun. He came down in front of the boy with a thunderous pound, shockwaves rippling the asphalt like Superman.

Noiz opened his mouth to scream but the voice that came out wasn't his own. Instead, all of his cubes shrieked at the same time "PIIIIIIIII!" Noiz's legs trembled for a moment before he sank to his hands and knees, accepting defeat.

"If you're going to kill me and take over my body, just do it," he gritted out, clenching a fist. "I don't want your mercy."

Koujaku finally caught up, bent over and huffing. He looked between Clear and Noiz before focusing on the younger boy. "Go on, Clear…do us all the favor of getting rid of this bean sprout."

"Tch, you're next!" Noiz yelled at him.

This made Koujaku pause and slowly, his eyes met Clear's. "You're not…you're not really going to kill me too…are you?"

_Where did we go wrong? _Clear whimpered to himself. "You misunderstand. I'm not going to kill anyone. Last time we went to Platinum Jail, I fought to help _save _humans! I even shoved a knife through my skull! Doesn't anyone remember?"

Noiz stood back up, then looked over to Koujaku, who shrugged. "No…I was too busy dealing with the pain and loneliness of the rejection by nearly everyone I knew and the subsequent hurt at not being able to feel and understand others," Noiz said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I was struggling with the power of the demonic tattoo on my body and the resulting rage that caused me to slaughter my entire family," Koujaku added.

Clear gulped and took a step away from them. "And I thought _I _had issues! Either way, I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm on your side. But right now, we're wasting time that could be used to help Aoba-san. Can we please just…get along?"

The other two grunted, embarrassed that Clear, of all people, was the one chastising them. "Whatever," they muttered simultaneously, and Clear beamed at them.

"Great! But now, where do we go? Mink-san's team never said he left the island but if that's the case, I figured we would've seen him around town by now…"

As he said this, a light came on from inside one of the houses and a door opened. In the spirit of perfect-timing, Mink stepped onto the front porch, his pipe in one hand. He exhaled a puff of smoke before calling out, "The hell do you want?"

"Mink!" the other three gasped.

"Yes, that's my name, don't wear it out," he grunted, taking a few steps closer. "How'd you find me?"

"Coincidence," Koujaku said honestly. "Nobody in Scratch even knew where to find you."

Clear came forward towards the ex-con, then bowed at almost a ninety-degree angle. "I beg your assistance, Mink-san! Aoba's gone back to Platinum Jail but I'm really worried he won't come back. You and your team broke in once before, didn't you? Please, just one more time is all I ask!"

Mink regarded him with an unreadable expression for several tense moments before turning away. "Follow me. I'm going to need to hear this from the beginning."

Inside the house, it was well-furnished but everything was old and dusty. Likely it was the belongings of the previous residents. He led them into the living room, which had a coffee table strewn with so many odds and ends, it looked like a child's craft table. He took a seat on the sofa, the others following his lead and Clear began his story for the third time that day.

During the entire time he was talking, Mink had been picking up various pieces on the table and fitting them together, forming what looked like the start of a bracelet. Once finished, Clear looked at him with apprehensive eyes. "So…will you help us?"

Mink reached to ruffle through a box full of assorted beads, plucking out a pink one that matched his headband. "You're asking a lot. It took months to plot that last break-in. They're sure to have increased security this time."

"Well, Platinum Jail's open to the public now," Koujaku pointed out. "You don't have to have an invitation this time."

Noiz shook his head though and pulled up several maps and grids with his Coil. "That may be so, but the real goal is going to be Platinum Tower. They would've reworked all of the codes and firewalls and maybe even the building materials to ensure that you can't break in. You know, like flying a bike through the twenty-third window," he snorted.

Mink smiled faintly, remembering.

"Please, Mink-san? I promise this will be the first and last time I ever ask you to help with something so personal," Clear begged.

The man took a deep breath, then shrugged. "Fine. But in return, you have to help me with these," he said, holding up his unfinished bracelet.

Clear took one that was finished and lying on the table, a multi-colored piece. In looking closer, he noticed that there weren't just bracelets, but necklaces and feathered earrings too. "What _is _all of this?"

"My work. I sell jewelry in the fashion of my people." Mink gestured behind him as well, where several boxes were stacked against a wall. "Most of it though is sold on my Etsy store."

All motion immediately froze.

"What? A man can't have an Etsy account?" Mink grunted.

Catching themselves, they all fumbled to apologize. "Oh, no, it's completely fine!" Clear chuckled.

"_Totally _manly," Koujaku said.

"Yeah, I'm…jealous," Noiz added weakly.

Mink decided it wasn't worth calling their bullshit. "Whatever. So, when are we doing this?"

"No time's better than the present, right?" Clear said.

"That'd be best. Give me a moment to get ready," Mink responded and got up. As he left, they could hear him mumble to himself, "How do I keep getting caught up in Aoba's drama?"

"He does have a point there," Noiz agreed, also getting up. "I think I'll go wait outside." The other two also got up, prompting him to say, "I'm not going to run, if that's what you're thinking." He flushed, thinking of how much of his image he'd tarnished with that one action.

"I don't think you'll run," Clear told him.

"I do," Koujaku smirked, earning him a scathing glare from Noiz.

They waited just outside the house for five minutes until Mink appeared, now with Tori on his shoulder. "Let's get going. I need to hurry up and get back as I have twenty online orders to fill."

His long, brisk steps set the pace with the younger ones scrambling to keep up. Still, Clear was amazed at how everything was working out. It was incredible that the mere mention of Aoba could influence so many people from various backgrounds to work together.

_At last, Master, we're on our way. Please wait for us. _


	7. Error

**Error**

"Oh, look Aoba, look!" Sei excitedly called to his brother. He sat up straighter in his chair to point to the screen. "Look, he can dodge bullets!"

Aoba groaned and pulled an arm over his face from where he was lying on the office couch. "I know, Sei. I've seen the _Matrix _more than even you."

"Isn't that just astounding, Aoba? What one can do with their mind?" Sei smiled to himself, thinking about it. "In our case, it's our eyes and voices, though I can also access anything that connects to the internet. I'm like a walking encyclopedia! No, better; I'm Wikipedia!"

"That's…not always a good thing," Aoba informed him.

What happened to the shy and quiet brother he used to know? The boy that sat at the end of the long couch wasn't the same person he'd met a year ago or even a few days ago. He'd now been in this office for over three hours with Sei wanting to share movies and refusing to talk about the very obvious elephant in the room.

Something came to stand beside him, something rather large. As he was lying down, he peeked up, then jerked upright. "You're…Usui," he said, looking the figure over from head to toe.

She still looked the same as when Rhyme still used her, all ten arms and wearing a blue veil that covered her face. She smiled sweetly down at him, one hand holding a coaster, which she put down on the coffee table. Another was holding a Japanese teacup. A third was holding a teapot, which she poured the contents into the cup. The fourth held a pillow out, now leaning down. Aoba was just about to relax at the treatment until she spoke.

"Would you like a pillow, Aoba?" She asked, but the voice that came out was deep and masculine.

"She sounds manlier than even Ren!" Aoba said, looking at Sei. "Why didn't you change her voice? She's not used for Rhyme anymore."

"Huh?" Sei swiveled in his chair to look at him. "Oh. I guess I didn't think about it. I didn't set her to sound like that to begin with though. My conscious might've created her, but she was considered Toue's Allmate first. You'll have to ask him why he programmed her like that."

Aoba grunted but didn't point out that this didn't resolve his question. Instead, he asked another one. "When are you going to tell me what you specifically want from me? All we've done for the last three hours was watch foreign movies. I can't even understand them without subtitles or shoddy dubbing."

With a sigh, Sei turned off the screen, the _Matrix _condensing to a thin line before fading away. "Fine. I already told you once before what I wanted but you had declined. However, I'm sure by now you've spoken with Clear?"

Aoba sat up straighter, staring at his twin whose differences were now more than skin deep. "Yes. He told me you weren't going to let Mizuki's team go unless I agreed to this stupid vice president thing. I never thought you, of all people, would be so dirty, Sei."

Inwardly flinching, Sei got up and walked over to his window. The scenery looked down on the Blue Midnight Coast district though perhaps with the now opened dome, the title was a bit misplaced. With it being close to sunset, the orange in the sky reflected off of the smooth, blue and white surfaces, making the city sparkle, like walking on glittering diamonds. Now that he'd had some time to let it sink in, he was happy they'd rebuilt the tower in the same spot so that he could finally enjoy the view.

"Aoba, this was never my intention," he said, his voice softening. "I'm sorry this was the result but I had no choice. I really need you. I don't know what Toue was thinking when he left this company to me but I don't intend to waste this opportunity to help Midorijima. Maybe…it was his way of apologizing."

"Hmph," Aoba muttered. "Fine, I'm here. Now are you going to tell me what I need to do?"

"Yes, and it's rather simple, overall. I need you to convince the island that Toue, Inc. remaining here is a good thing. I'll even make a public appearance if I have to but the town knows you and trusts you. So you have more of a chance than me."

"You make it sound so easy but you must not have a good idea of the extent that Toue ruined this place," Aoba actually sneered, getting up to stand in front of Sei by the window. "The entire Northern District? Gone because of him. Imports and exports? He controlled. He even managed to block calling and internet access back to the mainland. I'm still trying to figure out how the hell he managed to pull that one off! Sei, you're basically asking me to throw myself under the bus for you. Once it gets out that I'm your brother, they're going to figure out I'm under your payroll and will never believe anything I say ever again."

Instead of being concerned though, Sei smiled at him. "You're looking at the glass half-empty! Instead, look at it as being half-full!"

"What the hell does that even mean?!" Aoba snapped. "You learn that at some bullshit self-help seminar?"

Sei grunted and looked away. "I might've taken a motivational workshop or two. But you're missing the big picture, Aoba. _I can fix this!_ I know I can. But if I go and start making big changes without gaining their trust first, I might as well be Toue himself. _You _believe in me, right?"

Aoba turned his gaze away. "I dunno…"

"Aoba…" Sei said softly, his voice changing to become the very soft whisper that he used to only be able to speak in. He raised his hand to cup his brother's cheek, but Aoba turned away, flinching.

Hurt, Sei withdrew his hand, examining both of them in the window's reflection. His own flesh and blood didn't trust him. Aoba might've even hated him. It was as though everything that had happened the year before meant nothing now. That tentative bond had been snapped and the more Sei pushed, the more Aoba would pull away.

So it had finally come to this.

Aoba had lifted his head to look at the window again. Sei wasn't sure if this would work with it being indirect contact but figured it was worth a try. Before Aoba could look away again, he initiated his Scrap ability with his eyes. To his credit, Aoba actually saw it coming and attempted to fight back.

"_Sei, don't_—!" His voice taking on the telltale signs of Scrap.

Too late. Aoba felt himself freeze and heard Sei's command only in his head, cutting across his words.

"_Don't move. Don't speak." _

_What the hell are you doing?! _Sei chastised himself, feeling his breathing become panicky. This was taking him in the complete opposite direction of his goal. His entire spiel up until now had been about trust. But he'd already reached an irreversible point. The only thing left was to see it through.

Going over to his desk, he hit the intercom. With no words, Virus and Trip entered a moment later. Their eyes flickered to Aoba's, who still stood with a look of surprised horror paralyzed on his face. Both grinned, knowing exactly what had happened.

"Take Aoba down to the jails," Sei commanded them. "Make sure to turn off Ren as well so that his signal can't be tracked."

The non-twins nodded, Trip even going so far as to give a salute. "Can we have fun with him?" he asked hopefully. Virus seemed to beam at the idea.

"Can you have fun…NO!" he screamed, the meaning sinking in. It'd been hell having to bat them off of him for these past few days. He did admit that it was rather odd that he couldn't stop their sexual harassment and as the CEO, he'd gotten more than his fair share of perplexed looks from his employees. And yes, he'd also heard the rumor that he was now Virus and Trip's sex slave, much the same how most believed the same thing was true of his connection with Toue.

The two sulked but gently led his brother away, using utmost care. Sei turned his back to them, only the window bearing witness to the single tear that fell.

* * *

Quick note, while I'm sure I'm taking some creative liberties with Sei's powers, the game never seems to give a clear-cut rundown of everything he can do. His ability to split his conscious into multiple forms seems to allow him to do a wide variety of things. I'm sure I'm blowing it a bit out of proportion, but I'd like to think his Scrap abilities far exceed Aoba's :)


	8. Divide and Conquer

**Divide and Conquer**

Aoba was powerless to struggle as he was led from Sei's office and ushered into an elevator. It was located near the back of the hallway, down a separate corridor, suggesting it wasn't one for use by the general public. Similar to how the elevators in Oval Tower were designed, these ones were also clear and allowed a full view of Platinum Jail. As they traveled down, the city skyline disappeared to be replaced by shimmering buildings and neon signs. Soon, even that was no longer visible as they were taken somewhere below ground. The space in the elevator seemed to grow smaller and Aoba wanted to shift away from the two but Sei's paralysis still gripped him.

_What I wouldn't give to just use Scrap right now, _he thought. The elevator dinged when it reached its destination and he was led down a pristine white hallway. On either side were…cells? Each door consisted of clear panels which looked to be made out of reinforced glass. Only a painted white stripe with ascending numbers outside offered any variation to tell the cells apart. Aoba was taken to one marked 422 and he only had a brief moment to snort at the fact that the number matched his birthday before he was guided inside. As he could still barely move himself, Trip led him over to the bed built into the wall and laid him down, being gentle in his movements.

Virus came over to help him, even being so generous as to tuck him under the thin blanket. "We're so sorry, Aoba-san," he whispered into his ear as he brushed his hair out his face. "Hopefully this won't be long and Sei-san will soon change his mind." The man sighed for a moment before adding, "I really wish you had taken us up on our offer to secret you away with us. Nobody would've ever found you. Not Sei. Not Toue. It would've just been us…forever."

Despite not being able to move, Aoba felt a cold shiver run across his flesh. These two weren't fit to care for a puppy, much less another human life. Speaking of dogs though, his eyes moved to the ball of blue fur under Trip's arm indicating Ren. He widened his eyes hopefully, looking pointedly at his Allmate. Trip noticed it and smiled.

"Ah, I know you want this little guy back. I'd fight through all the rings of Hell for Welter," he chuckled.

"Same for Hersha," Virus agreed.

Aoba could only assume these were their Allmates.

"But it's Sei's orders. We promise we'll take good care of him," Trip continued.

"Actually, he only said to power him off…" Virus mused, giving Trip a look.

"Hmm…True. Very true."

The two smiled again before Trip reached under Ren and flicked the switch to turn him off. Aoba felt a jolt of hope hit him full-force this time, praying they would give him back. But what they did next was worse than not giving him back at all.

Before he could do anything to protest, Virus had pulled open Ren's paneling on his back, exposing his inner workings. Reaching in, he quickly pulled back with something tiny and gold in his hand: Ren's sim card. It held all of the information about the Allmate. It held his Rhyme stats and settings. It was how he connected to the global internet by satellite. It contained all of Ren's memories, thoughts, and feelings. In short, that tiny chip _was _Ren.

"We'll be keeping this, Aoba-san," Virus informed him, his voice still so soft, so seemingly kind. "But you can have at least the body to hold. We know you like to take him everywhere with you." He sat the Allmate beside him on the bed. With a final stroke on the cheek, the two walked out, the cell door smoothly sliding shut behind them.

Still unable to move, Aoba could only silently cry as he stared at the immobile husk of his best friend.

~.~.~

The announcement came from Beni, Tori, and the Usagimodoki all at once: "We've lost Ren's signal!"

At the same time, Clear came to a halt, his lip trembling. "Yes, the same for me, too. I could sense him at first but now, I'm not getting anything. It just suddenly disappeared."

Koujaku growled under his breath. "That means someone turned him off or disabled his mobile data feature. Aoba would never do that. Someone else must have Ren."

Mink took a slow drag on his pipe, blowing the smoke quietly into the air as he looked around at their setting. They'd managed to reach Platinum Jail and were just within the entrance of the Midnight Blue Coast. In the distance, Platinum Tower reflected back the city lights. "If Ren has been taken, it's safe to assume that Aoba has been compromised as well." He knocked out the pipe contents into a nearby trash can before storing it away. "Damn it, here were go yet again. I swear trouble is that boy's middle name."

"Actually, most Japanese don't have middle names," Clear supplied helpfully.

Over the past year, the android had forced him to reach deep within his patience reserve. Mink decided to draw upon that now and answered calmly, "It's just an expression, Clear." But after a second of thought, he added, "However, I admittedly did not know that."

"Either way," Noiz cut in, "It's probably best to wait until nightfall to strike. Until then, we should try to find out as much information as possible about the new Platinum Tower."

The others agreed, even Koujaku, and thus they split up to cover more ground.

~.~.~

Mink immediately turned around and went back into the main entrance of Platinum Jail. There, the iconic five doors could be seen, each leading to a different district. While there was nothing outside each door to hint at what lay beyond, he already knew where he wanted to go and thus headed toward the second tall, white door to his right. Within an instant though, his path was blocked by a panda, which was wagging a finger and tsking in a good imitation of Sonic.

"Excuse me, sir! The Fun-Fun Roulette has chosen an attraction for you already! If you'd like, I can help you find a guide to show you all of the GREAT things that the Midnight Blue Coast has to offer!" the panda said enthusiastically.

When the four of them had entered, they already knew they wouldn't be choosing their own destination initially. Instead, they had waited until each person had been assigned a district and then opted to go into the Midnight Blue together. However, they hadn't expected to lose track of Ren so early, thus the change of plans. If they were going to have any success with reconnaissance, visiting other areas was a necessity.

Mink let out an audible groan and stared the panda down. "I need to get to Night Valley. Move aside."

The panda shook his immense head, crossing his arms in a "no trespassing" gesture. "I'm very sorry but you've already been given access already. The Fun-Fun Roulette is never wrong! Please return to your assigned destination and immerse yourself in the pleasure and excitement that's readily available around every turn!"

"Look at my face," Mink commanded, pointing to himself. "Do I _look_ like I give a shit about any of that? Get the hell out of my way or I'm going to _make _you move."

The panda blanched, no longer looking so sure. "…B-but the F-Fun-Fun Roulette…"

Mink snatched the front of the panda and pulled him close within inches. "Do. Not. Care."

There was a moment of silent tension before the panda broke.

"Look, man, I just follow the rules here, okay?" a new voice said, one devoid of any of the sugary, over the top excitement from before. The panda removed his head and underneath was a man that looked to be in his early twenties. "I'm just doing what I've been told, trying to keep my job. You don't have to be such a dick."

Not deigning to respond, Mink made to again side-step him but the man put a hand on his chest to halt him. At the contact, Mink's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What part of 'keep my job' did you not understand," the guy asked, plowing on ahead. "Do you think I _want _to work here? Besides having to constantly dance around like a monkey, this suit is hot as balls. Speaking of which, I can't even scratch my balls in this thing. Am I making you uncomfortable? Good, now you know how I feel! All I'm asking for is a little cooperation, alright, buddy? Just turn around, go back into that room, and everyone is happy, 'kay?"

_Well_…in a perfect world, that's what would've happened. Instead, Mink left the battered panda-guy in a heap under the counter of a ticket window. With a satisfied smirk, he entered into the door that would take him to the Night Valley.

Instantly though, he was hit with a wave of memories that stopped him in his tracks. He and Aoba had spent a considerable amount of time here…and none of it had been good. He'd beaten the boy countless times. He'd raped him. He had taken away every shred of his self-esteem, reducing him to a meek, fearful creature that was only Aoba by name, resembling nothing of the boisterous person that he'd previously been.

Mink could feel waves of guilt roiling within and at his quickened breathing, Tori cocked his head curiously to the side, but knew better than to ask what was wrong. Coming unbidden, Mink was reminded of perhaps the two most devastating outcomes after everything he had done: first, Toue had managed to escape and second, he was then and still now, unable to give his life as payment for his actions.

Any hopes for putting an end to his own suffering had come crashing down when Aoba Scraped him. Of course, his goal was/is to kill Toue and then himself but now he found that he grew panicked at the idea of taking his own life. To test it, he'd even attempted to take half a bottle of pills. His hands had shaken uncontrollably, refusing to take off the lid. In the end, he had thrown the bottle away, burying it deep down in the trash.

Aoba had wanted to save him for some reason but he couldn't help but feel that maybe by making him live, he'd dealt the ultimate punishment. On top of losing his family, he'd forever be tormented by what he'd done. Death would've been solace and rightfully…perhaps Aoba felt he didn't deserve that.

Naturally, Aoba would tell him that was not why he forbade him from committing suicide, and Aoba had even gone so far as to tell him he forgave him, but it would be a thousand lifetimes before Mink felt even a shred of relief at being pardoned.

He also knew this was why he was back in Platinum Jail now. He certainly owed it to the boy to rescue him. The others might've thought he found this entire trip a nuisance but it was the least he could do for Aoba.

Taking a deep breath, he felt Tori very gently nuzzle his hair, which was the Allmate's way of asking "Are you okay?"

Mink grinned ruefully to himself while reaching up to quickly scratch the bird's head. "I'll be okay. Let's go."

Together, they walked into the valley of darkness.

* * *

For this story, while AobaxClear is the primary pairing, the background does not follow Clear's story only. A good way to view it is perhaps to think of the anime (yes, the plothole-ravaged, yaoi-less, questionable artwork anime…). Each character interacts with Aoba for a short time and all seemingly lived in Glitter together (unlike in the game). In terms of writing, this allows usage of most of each character's story :)


	9. One Without the Other

**One Without the Other**

"Sei-san, there seems to have been an incident at the Platinum Jail entrance," Virus told him, swiveling the security monitor in the office so that he could see. On the screen, Mink was in the process of roughing up the panda mascot before stuffing the body in the ticket booth.

"Hey, I actually remember that guy," Trip said, peering closer. "Wasn't he with Aoba last time? There was a group of them and they attacked us. That's when Aoba got away." He left off that he and Virus had been attempting to ditch Toue and take Aoba with them.

Sei remembered though that it had been only Aoba who had appeared before him in his room. It must have been his friend's distraction that allowed it. As he was aware of the non-twins' less than pure intentions, he was a little grateful for their interference. It would only be fair to explain things to them too, as he had tried with Aoba.

"I'll send someone else to deal with them," Sei decided. "In the meantime, I have another assignment for you two."

Both immediately perked up, their eyes almost glowing in anticipation. "Oh? And what would that be?" Trip asked.

"Well, actually, I only need one of you for the task," Sei corrected. He picked up a large pile of leaflets and passed them to Virus. "I need you to distribute these. They inform that henceforth, Rib teams are prohibited. And yes, that means Morphine too." Taking off his fedora, he made a point of removing the Morphine pin he'd always worn and threw it into a nearby trash can.

Virus scoffed lightly. "And what does this have to do with anything?"

"Turf wars are ridiculous," his boss informed him. "It's all government property anyways, what's to fight about? Besides, the graffiti lowers property value and scares away business and customers. I've informed the Chief of Police of this and he also agrees. And from a business standpoint…Rib takes away from those that could be participating in Rhyme. I think this is a good decision all around."

Virus' smile grew all the wider but there was a moment when Sei thought he was going to mock him in protest. Instead, he only shrugged and said, "Okay," before picking up the papers and heading for the door.

"Wait!" Trip demanded. "Shouldn't both of us go? Wouldn't it be faster?" For the first time that Sei could ever remember, he looked…scared.

"I would like you to stay here," Sei informed him. "Just in case I need something."

All the color drained from Trip's face. He turned his false-blue eyes to Virus, his partner in crime and everything else. "But…we've always been together. Always."

The other seemed unconcerned by the split. "Ever since we were children, you've acted as my doppelganger," Virus mused wistfully. "You changed your hair to match mine. You changed your eyes to the same color as mine. You even insisted we board together at Toue's institution, despite that I'm six years older than you, and dorms for your grade were on a different floor."

He came closer and with a gentleness that made Sei uncomfortable to watch, he cupped Trip's chin, making them look into each other's eyes. "Indeed, we have always been by each other's side. But maybe now, it's time to go our separate ways. One day, the bird must leave the nest."

"Don't patronize me, I thought we agreed to treat each other as equals," Trip knocked away the hand.

"My apologies," Virus gave an amused smile. "But this will only be a brief separation. I promise I'll return." He closed his eyes, putting his forehead against Trip's, who also closed his eyes. "I promise."

"I…I trust you," the other whispered, tilting his head in a way that almost seemed like a nuzzle.

Virus pulled away first, patting Trip on the shoulder as he walked towards the door. As his back was turned, he missed when Trip made a motion to reach for him, all to stop himself. Instead, he balled his hand into a fist, clenching his teeth and turning his face away.

Sei slipped out the door soon after to give him some time alone.

~.~.~

Mink looked up at the large, black building across the street, lacking any distinctive features on the outside aside from a neon red stripe that encircled the perimeter at the top. Even the entrance was rather dark, though every now and then someone would walk up to the bouncer outside, flash a card, and would be waved through. For a brief moment, light and music would spill out before the darkness was resumed.

In his own hand, he held the same card he had used a year ago, that of a blue butterfly. He hoped it was still valid; he'd paid a hefty price to buy the card from a black market dealer, its original owner now dead. He scanned the area to ensure nobody was watching him before he stepped out of the shadows and crossed the street.

"Members only," The bouncer growled at him, halting his progress. Though the man was taller than himself with a buffer build, Mink figured he could at least hold his own against him if it came down to it. He showed him the butterfly card and attempted to keep walking but for the second time that day, a hand blocked his access, pushing against him. He cracked his fingers. _And here we go again_.

"Wait," the man commanded, reaching into his pocket. He was probably about to radio for backup. Mink shifted his feet imperceptibly, getting ready to pounce. On his shoulder, Tori also bristled, no stranger to gouging anyone that threatened his owner.

Instead though, the man produced…coupons? "Congratulations! You're our 200th customer this evening! You win a voucher for half-off for a private room and for drinks! Just show this to the bartender and the wait staff and they'll get you situated."

The guy was grinning at him like a maniac, which with the suit and sunglasses was rather unnerving. Considering Mink had never so much as won a raffle, he was equally confused. "Sure thing…" he muttered, lost for words for the first time in his life. He took the voucher and proceeded through the door, being absorbed by the light beyond.

The first room was more of a lobby. People stood around with drinks in their hands, some nodding to the bass that could be heard coming from another door down a hallway. To the side were the bathrooms. He headed towards there first.

The inside suited everything else related to the Night Valley, dark, dingy and odorous. He chose a mirror above a sink that was the cleanest and pulled out a plastic case meant to hold contacts. In hindsight, he should've put them in earlier, but they irritated his eyes and he didn't like wearing them too much. Besides…he enjoyed showing off his natural golden eyes. But with a quiet sigh, he popped the tab on one of the containers, a floating gray-blue contact staring back at him.

With practiced hands, he put them both in, blinking to ensure they stayed on his pupils. He wished he'd gotten them with a prescription, considering his natural vision wasn't the best (a result from reading late into the evenings with little lighting) and he didn't like wearing his glasses in public too often, but at the time he'd gotten them, he'd been on a budget. Either way, they should do the trick. He wasn't sure if Toue…or whoever was now at the helm…still used the drugging lights but he wasn't about to take a chance.

Exiting the bathroom, he headed down the hallway to the door at the end. He already knew he was going to have a headache after this. Soldiering on, he pushed his way inside and was immediately assaulted by fast flashing lights and electronic bass.

The room was packed. On a stage stood a man with thick headphones, turning various dials, the DJ for the night. As the music grew more frantic, the dancing sped up. Mink groaned as he already recognized this kind of music. One of those "beat drop" songs. Meaning he had few precious moments left before all hell broke loose with the crowd.

Thankfully, nearby was a waitress, a very young woman that looked just legal enough to work there. She was dressed as…a bunny. But of course. Still, as she got close, he showed her the card the bouncer had given him. She took it, read it, and broke out into a grin. "Way to go! Right this way, sir!"

He already knew the layout of the club, but followed her anyways as she led him to a side staircase. She took him to a similar room as last time, an area decorated with lots of leather couches and large glass windows that looked out over on the dance floor. "I'll be right back with a drink for our lucky winner!" she giggled, winking at him. He cringed but she didn't see it, already going back downstairs.

This location would at least give him some time to think of his next move. He needed to find someone that could spill some intel about this new version of Platinum Jail. Maybe he could invite up some of the people on the floor and ply them with drinks. That shouldn't be hard once they saw his half-off discount. They'd be fighting to win his favor. Without waiting on the bunny to return, he made his way down the stairs again as well.

Swimming against the wave of bodies, he figured his best bet to casually speak to people would be at the bar. It would be just his luck though that the bar was on the complete opposite side of the club. Not just that but…oh no. The lights were beginning to swirl even faster, enough to send almost anyone into an epileptic seizure. Everyone was facing the DJ, looking to him as the key to unleashing their excitement. For the night, he was their mecca, their god. Mink immediately tried to right his wrong, tried to turn around for the sanctity of his VIP room, but…it was too late. With him in the middle of the fray, the bass dropped.

People lost their shit. Body parts were flailed with no care about the person next to them, sweaty hair shaken like animals. The crowd jumped up and down, pounding like a heartbeat. Shirts were taken off and spun around heads, men and women alike. Cans of beer were shaken and popped, sending geysers spewing into the air, the technicolor lights giving them a magical luminescence. And the _screams_. The crowd's ecstasy was a tangible thing, turning the multitude into a single writhing mess.

Foregoing any ounce of politeness, Mink elbowed his way through the delirious hoard. He felt their hands pulling at him, attempting to drag him back in, to dance, to play, to come have fun with them. He redoubled his efforts though and with a final surge, he stumbled back to the edge of the club, back near the stairs that led up to the private rooms. He didn't wait to catch his breath; immediately, he rushed to the top, opening his room door and slamming it behind him.

Only to be met by Clear.

"Mink!" he shouted, rushing up to him. He took in his disheveled appearance and ran a scan, quickly trying to ascertain where he might've been injured. Nothing came up, except for an elevated heart rate. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"How the hell did you find me?" he asked back, ignoring Clear's questions.

Clear lowered his pink eyes, looking instead to the dancing orgy below them. "I…followed you. Koujaku and Noiz seemed to already know where to go, but I'm no good with sleuthing. Aoba could probably tell you that better than I can, haha," he chuckled pathetically, rubbing his hair. "I saw you coming out of this room and figured you'd return eventually, so…I decided to just wait."

He was so earnest, so open that Mink couldn't even bring himself to chastise him for not announcing his presence sooner. "Alright. Fine. But don't get in my—"

The door burst open, two figures blocking their exit. "Hi there! Long time no see!" one of them greeted to Clear.

_Don't tell me the lights got to me anyways_. Mink pinched the bridge of his nose, looking at the two before him. There stood two identical copies to Clear, save for the space-age clothing. _I must be seeing things_.

But Clear was tense, his usually apologetic disposition gone. "Alpha. Beta. Did Toue send you again?"

The new pair looked at each other before laughing. "Nah, haven't seen him since last year," the one on the left said, Beta.

"We're here on Sei's orders this time," Alpha chimed in. "Truth be told, we haven't been in use since last year either. So we're eager to catch up with ya, big bro!"

"Brothers…?" Mink asked, directing the question at Clear.

Clear shook his head at him. "We're man-made, we're not brothers in the same way that Aoba-san and Sei-san are. Just barcodes and serial numbers."

"You know, we tried to say the same thing to you last year," Beta said, cocking his head to the side in thought. "But who was it that insisted they had a heart? That their feelings were real, not just programmed responses? That they were _human_?"

But Clear didn't waver. "What do you want? If you're here about the thing with Aoba, don't you already have him?"

Neither confirming nor denying the statement about Aoba, Alpha said, "We're here for the two of you. Looks like there's something he wants to talk with you two about."

That was actually rather informative of them, Clear noticed. It wasn't like either of them to be forthright with information. Maybe it was because their ties of loyalty were still with Toue so they felt less need to keep secrets. But still…this could be a trap. He recalled the way Sei had sweetly threatened to harm Mizuki and Dry Juice if he didn't comply, in the process taking away his free will since his keylock was untouched in this new body. Even though he had Aoba, maybe there was something more to all of this.

"I'm not going anywhere with—"

"Fine. Bring us in," Mink said.

"Wait, what?! No! Mink-san, it's not safe—"

But Mink silenced him with a cold stare.

"Alrighty, just don't try any funny business and we won't touch a hair on your head," Beta said jovially. They didn't handcuff them, but Alpha took the lead, guiding them back out of the room and down the stairs. Mink followed him first, with Clear, at a loss for words, following after. Beta made up the rear guard.

In a single file, they left out of the club, passing the bouncer. The man noticed Mink and called out, "Please come again!" as he strode by.

"What's that about?" Alpha inquired, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

"Nothing," Mink said but at the persistent stare, he rolled his eyes. "I won a coupon for half off of a room and drinks."

Forgetting himself, Clear began to cheer for him, as did his brothers. "Awesome! Hey, you're not coming back here tonight, right?" Beta asked hopefully. "Why not let us have it?" Alpha grinned his agreement.

However, Mink actually snorted at them. "The first time I win something in my life and I'm supposed to hand it over to Thing One and Thing Two? No thanks."

The two fell into sullen silence, continuing their herding out of the Night Valley. Instead of taking them back to the entrance, they took them to what looked like an exit. Other people were shuffling towards the gates with another panda standing by, thanking them for their patronage. Instead of going the same direction though, Alpha steered them slightly to the side, where a rather unremarkable door stood. He held up his Coil to the scanner on the side and after a pause, the door clicked open.

The instant they stepped through to the other side, they were again back in the Midnight Blue Coast district. Mink immediately made note of their route. He figured there had to be a quicker way to traverse the districts than to return to the main entrance each time. That said, how careless of the robot twins to show that to them.

Idly, he also wondered if Koujaku and Noiz were still here. If he and Clear had been found, there's a possibility that they had been compromised too. Also, he wasn't sure when, but at some point during the night's chaos, Tori had taken off. He hoped his Allmate would seek out theirs to inform them of what had happened, even if it did mean Tori having to work alongside his rival, Beni. All of this was equally assuming Noiz and Koujaku hadn't killed each other first.

But no time to worry about that. They were getting closer to Platinum Tower where Aoba was likely being held. And at last, he'd get to meet his brother, the mysteriously infamous Sei.

* * *

A long chapter for a long pause; my apologies :) Next chapter will focus more on the Christmas duo of Noiz and Koujaku!


	10. Invasion of the Koujaku Kind

**Invasion of the Koujaku Kind**

Koujaku grinned to himself as he followed his target. He'd been trailing Noiz for the better part of half an hour. The best part? Noiz _knew _he was following him. Noiz initially had attempted to ignore him altogether, but leave it to his Allmates to betray him.

"Noiz! Noiz!" They cried, wriggling on the boy's belt. "Beni is nearby!"

"Beni! Beni!"

"Where? Beni, where?"

"Over there! Over there!"

"Noiz! Let's meet Beni! NOIZ!"

Koujaku actually laughed out loud when he saw the boy glance back over his shoulder _very _slowly. Their eyes had met for a fraction of a second before he'd turned around and began frantically weaving through the crowds. He himself was in no hurry though; if Noiz got too far ahead, Beni could keep track of him, both by signal and by air. Noiz wouldn't turn off the cubes; they were all hoping that Ren's signal would come back online.

Finally though, Noiz's luck ran out. In his desperation to get away from his stalker, he'd made a turn down a festive dead-end. The street was lined with food vendors and shops but it was clear that there was only one way in and one way out, the end of the street gated off by Platinum Jail security. The boy clenched his hands into fists, jerking to a stop. Koujaku stopped just a few feet behind him, his smile growing that much wider. This was probably the most fun he'd had all week.

However, he admittedly wasn't expecting it when Noiz whipped around to throw a haymaker his way. If it weren't for the skills he'd honed in Rib, the kid likely would've knocked him out. As it was, he deftly caught it, gripping the hand and showing teeth.

"Yo! Well that wasn't very nice!"

Noiz's green eyes darkened to the color of jade. "Why the hell are you following me? It's creepy for old men to follow boys around."

Koujaku shrugged, casually glancing around at all the brightly lit stores and the neon lighting within the Green Playground. "I already did a sweep of the Flame Willow district. Nothing special's happening there but there's supposed to be a concert here soon. Truthfully, I had no idea you'd be here but since you are, it should make it easier to cover more ground together."

His cheeky grin became a thoughtful expression as he added, "Besides…I saw that Clear had gone with Mink so I assume they have the other districts covered."

Noiz grunted, then ripped his hand back. Unable to think of anything to counter Koujaku's rationalization, he turned around and headed further down the street, the red kimono still visible in his peripheral vision.

"I heard about the concert too," he informed without turning around. "Seems like it'll be held within the next hour at an outside stage. If we're going to attack Platinum Tower, that would be our best bet, just like back with the commemoration event last year."

Koujaku nodded, having already thought the same thing. "Until then, we have time to kill. Why not do some sight-seeing in the mean time?" He honestly didn't care to hang out with Noiz but he knew his presence got on the boy's nerves so it was worth it.

Taking the lead, Noiz immediately swerved for a vendor. As he purchased half a dozen takoyaki dumplings, he didn't miss the irony that this was unfolding exactly like the last time he'd been there with Aoba.

He actually found that he missed him. He couldn't ever remember having that kind of one on one attention from anyone else, not even his own parents.

Koujaku followed along, one elbow resting halfway in his sleeve. He quirked an eyebrow at Noiz's purchase but realized he might've bitten off more than he could chew when the teen only said "Here," before shoving the foam plate of food into his arms. Before he could get out more than an "Oi!", the kid had turned around and was going to another seller.

This continued until Koujaku's arms were laden with food, the stack threatening to topple over. "You can't seriously be planning to eat all of this," he said, his voice muffled. "Nobody's _that _hungry."

"Kids in third-world countries," Noiz countered, undaunted by Koujaku's struggling. He reached somewhere within the pile and dug out a foil-wrapped grilled corn cob and took a bite, inhaling loudly to cool the food and to avoid the hot steam on his sensitive tongue. "Help yourself to something."

_Tch, that's the least you could offer for making me carry all of this! _Keeping that to himself, as it was likely his karma for following the boy to begin with, he began the arduous task of sorting the food. He was able to condense the stack down to just a few containers and put those into a plastic bag in one hand, keeping a couple of takoyaki on toothpicks in his other hand.

He didn't realize how hungry he was until he took a bite. Tae's breakfast had actually long-since worn off and in the flurry of everything that'd happened today, he'd forgotten to eat lunch. He savored the taste of the octopus, red ginger and green onions, not having had this particular snack since last year's summer festival.

An amicable camaraderie was formed for the time being. Koujaku was so engrossed in the moment that he had no time to react when Noiz leaned directly in front of him to pluck the remaining dumpling from the toothpick using his mouth. For a moment, their eyes connected, time frozen with Noiz's face hovering less than an inch from Koujaku's hand. Koujaku could feel him breathing on him, acutely registered the warm puffs of air on his fingers.

With a panicked gasp from both of them, each pulled away, losing the battle against the tide of crimson that smeared their faces. Koujaku tried to speak first, muttering, "The hell was that about…"

"_Shut up,_" Noiz hissed back, but it wasn't in any language Koujaku understood. He'd probably slipped back into German in his embarrassment.

He fought to control his own fluttering heartbeats, searching desperately for something else to focus on. Up head, a large clock face floated on an invisible screen, showing the time as a quarter past the hour. The concert would be starting very soon. With an immense effort, he turned back to Noiz to tell him this but the teen had stopped in his tracks and was examining something. Koujaku looked in the same direction and saw that a store was advertising a display for…some kind of tentacle monster.

Koujaku would never understand his country's obsession with tentacles. As it was, Noiz was heading toward the store and so he followed, still trying to forget what had just happened.

Inside, Noiz picked up one of the boxes for the tentacle creature, turning it over to examine the back of the packaging. At this close distance, Koujaku could see that actually…those tentacles were part of a blob that, judging by the backend, looked as if it were supposed to be attached to something (or someone). He also noticed that the thing had eyes affixed to the ends of the two tentacles and a very large, human mouth. Braving an even closer look, he picked up the box to read the character's name as simply "Migi", clearly belonging to a manga or anime.

He put the box down and shuddered at the fleshy abomination, but Noiz however took one of the boxes to the front and paid for it. As they walked out, Koujaku snickered at his purchase. "Never pegged you for an otaku," he said, much more comfortable with trading verbal jabs instead of _whatever _that was before.

Surprisingly though, Noiz actually flushed at the comment. "It's a limited edition collector's item. We just so happened to get lucky to be one of the first one's there before the rest of Platinum Jail realized the sale." He said this with his face turned to the side, obstinately refusing to look at him. "And besides, picking up a few pieces of anime merchandise doesn't automatically make you an otaku. This is _your _country; you should know that better than me."

Feeling the welcoming heat of a retort, Koujaku was just about to answer back when he was cut off by an explosion in the sky, followed closely by another one. Two bursts of color bloomed above them, one of them white, the other blue. As they began to fade, another followed on their heels, a vibrant pink that upon detonation, also released shimmering silver sparkles. The third barrage unleashed a red and green combination, which were bigger than any of the previous flashes. The arms of the bursts overlapped and embraced one another, lingering seemingly longer than any of their predecessors. Almost reluctantly, the two faded with another shower of colors to take their place.

The image was superimposed onto his retinas, something he knew he would never forget. Without moving his body, he imperceptibly turned his head where his eyes instantly met Noiz's. They'd both seen it and the significance wasn't lost on either of them.

"We should…get to the concert," Noiz murmured, ducking his head to allow his fringe to hide his face.

"Yeah…"

Dumping the last of the food, they made one more brief stop at a courier station, forwarding Noiz's figurine to another station closer to his apartment to be picked up later. From there, the two followed the growing crowds as they were drawn in by the opening notes of music.

Giant lights shone down on the evening's headliner, some J-rock group that Koujaku had heard of but had dismissed as a dime a dozen these days. Speaking of rock, he saw the word was in their title. He glanced over to see if Noiz was getting into it, but the boy was looking around, as though checking for something. Right, they were supposed to be finding a way into Platinum Tower. But that was a district over, in the Blue Midnight Coast. They would soon need to start making their way over to there and—

"Koujaku!" Someone shouted to his left, searing through his thoughts. "Koujaku-san!"

He scanned the faces around them, but none looked familiar. While the crowds were too loud for everyone to hear, those in the area began to turn and look as well for the source. Koujaku focused more intently until—there! He could make out his unofficial second in command, Kou, fighting to get to him. In his wake, he also saw his usual friend, Hagima, following after.

Just before he reached his side, Kou tripped on something, flailing forward and snatching Koujaku's sleeve, threatening to pull both of them to the ground. With a disgruntled groan, Hagima grabbed the back of Kou's kimono, saving both from disappearing into the void below. Kou gave his sheepish thanks before turning back to their leader. "Koujaku-san! Things are bad, man! You've gotta come back, quickly!"

Considering everyone was still staring, Koujaku attempted to gesture for him to lower his voice, though considering the concert going on, he took a step closer so they wouldn't have to shout. "What are you taking about? And how did you even know I was here? I didn't tell anyone I was going to Platinum Jail."

"It was thanks to Beni," Hagima said, nodding to the red bird perched on Koujaku's shoulder. Beni proudly puffed out his chest. "Since they can send messages to anyone's Coil that's on your contact list, we sent one directly to him to ask where you were. You weren't picking up your own Coil so that was the next best shot."

In truth, Koujaku had all but forgotten that he was wearing his Coil. He looked at it now, pulling up his texting app and found that he had…50 missed messages?! Turning the screen for his members to see, he asked, "What the hell was so important that you had to send THAT many?"

"Hey, not _all _of those came from us two," Kou muttered, sounding insulted that he would ever be accused of disrespecting their leader like that. "You got the contact info of a lot of our members. It looks like they were trying to message you, too."

Pushing past his hurt though, he said, "Akushima's at it again. Arresting Dry Juice was just the beginning. Now, they've banned Rib legally and are arresting anyone with group tattoos on them or if they're in areas with team tagart. Bug Bomb's been arrested, but they were small fry anyways. Some of our members were captured but we're holding our own. It looks like Dry Juice still has some people on the outside too and I don't think he's touched Scratch yet, but they're not in the Old Residential area anyways, which is where he started. Either way, things are getting really ugly and—"

He cut his ramble short as he finally noticed Noiz standing by them. Considering their two teams had once traded blows, he wasn't going to forget that face anytime soon. Not that Noiz had a forgettable face. "What is _he _doing here?" Kou snarled, jabbing a finger in his direction.

Hagima noticed as well, bristled for a moment, and then relaxed. "No time for that, Kou. It's none of our business."

Koujaku respected both of them, but he'd long since noticed that Kou was too much like him, going from zero to sixty in a flash (the irony of this trait being combined with the closeness of their names wasn't lost on him either). However, it was why he was especially appreciative of Hagima's level-headed thinking and being both of their voices of reason, at least when he too wasn't letting his emotions get the better of him. "We're…working together on something…" he said shortly, averting his eyes. "You guys are going to have to handle Akushima on your own."

Noiz let a quiet, triumphant "Hmph," shifting his pose as though to say, _now get lost!_

"So, what, we're _friends _with Ruff Rabbit now?" Kou spat, sizing Noiz up and down. The other maintained a neutral, bored expression.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that…" Koujaku shrugged. "That was a year ago, it's old news."

The four of them fell silent, each side staring at the other until Hagima spoke up. "Are you two…I mean, if you are, that's cool, but, you know…just asking…"

The red and green fireworks. Both Noiz and Koujaku remembered at the same time and didn't dare to look at each other. "It's…not like that," Koujaku attempted to say.

"Hey, it's okay, like I said. I mean, me and Kou—" and here, he cut himself off. Kou's face flushed brightly before his eyes fell like rocks to his feet, pulling uncomfortably at his kimono sleeve.

"A-anyways," Hagima tried to recover. "If you're busy here then I guess there's nothing we can do. Not like you being there would really change anything. I'll find a new safe location for us to regroup and to figure out how we're going to fight this thing."

Recovering himself, Kou nodded determinedly. "Yeah, we're not gonna give up that easily. We'll message you once things are set up and after we've taken a head count of who escaped. Poor Dry Juice…there has to be fewer than twenty of them left by now."

Koujaku felt bad for making them handle something so monumental but his priorities told him that Aoba came first. He trusted these two to get things done. But…he was still uncertain of exactly how he was to get to Aoba. That is, until an idea slinked its way in, taking hold of him like a parasite. "Hey…Kou, Hagima, I think I have a better idea. Listen up, instead you're going to…"

The four moved in closer to hear the details and when finished, each pulled away grinning, Noiz included. "That might actually work," he conceded.

"Hell yeah it'll work!" Kou shouted, pumping a fist in the air. "Way to go, Koujaku-san! We won't let you down! Let's do this!"

Both he and Hagima waved their goodbyes before taking their leave, eager to get started. At the same time, Noiz and Koujaku also left the concert behind, weaving through the now less-populated streets to a new destination. Noiz initially followed along silently but as they walked further and further, he finally asked, "Do you actually have a destination in mind or are you lost and too proud to admit it?"

Koujaku welcomed the sass. "Last year when my team snuck in here, they told me about the passageways that connected the districts. They mentioned one of them should be somewhere along here…" He scanned around the alleyways, looking for a door hidden to the untrained eye.

"Up two streets and make a left," Noiz sighed, as though astounded at his incompetence.

"How did you…?"

Noiz gave a self-satisfied grin. "It's my job to know these things."

Koujaku wanted to retort back with asking why then he didn't know anything about Platinum Tower but kept quiet. Following his directions, it indeed did bring them to a white door that was on the surface streets, next to the Green Playground exit. Oddly enough, nobody was around, likely even the staff had snuck off to visit the concert. Wanting to hurry before they were caught, he walked up to the door, noticing a keypad on the outside of it.

Without being told to, Noiz crouched down, pulling a kit from his pocket. He connected a cord from the bottom of the keypad into his Coil and pulled up several screens, his fingers quickly typing on the virtual keyboard. While the hack took less than a minute, it felt like eternity to Koujaku, who was nervous someone would come along and spot them.

"We're in," Noiz announced and with almost a single gesture, he'd closed the windows out, unplugged the cord, wrapped everything up and was slipping through the door. Koujaku gratefully followed him.

On the other side, he blinked to adjust his vision to the pristine blue and white. Once more, they were back in the Midnight Coast. He checked his Coil to ensure they were still on schedule, then headed in the direction of the distant Platinum Tower.

"Tori is here," Beni grunted, right as the Usagimodoki began to chant "Tori! Tori!"

He looked around, figuring he'd spot Mink's unmistakably tall form first but the flash of pink he saw came from directly above. Tori hovered over them, looking for a perch. Realizing he didn't have one, Koujaku held out his arm and the Allmate gratefully alighted upon it. Neither missed the cat-like hiss from Beni.

"Where's Mink?" Koujaku asked. While Mink had proved to not have as close of an attachment to his Allmate as he had to his own, or Aoba to Ren, something important must've happened for Tori to be sent to them on his own.

"Mink and Clear have been compromised," the cockatoo answered, confirming his fears. "An Alpha and Beta unit apprehended them in the Night Valley district. It would appear that someone named Sei would like to see them."

How would Sei even know Mink or Clear? Koujaku wondered. Showing he must've been thinking along the same line, Noiz asked, "Did they say anything about me or Koujaku?"

The bird shook his head. "No and neither Clear nor Mink mentioned either of you. It seemed they were to be taken to Platinum Tower. I figured it was best to update you two first so that a plan of action could be made."

Koujaku nodded, agreeing that was the right choice. "We actually already have something in the works. If all goes well, it should lead to us breaking in."

"Fine then," the Allmate responded shortly. "Please proceed." With a flurry of pink feathers, he took off, disappearing high into the night sky.

"Yeah, keep flyin'!" Beni added, long after Tori was out of earshot.

Noiz had pulled up a map now on his Coil, marking something on a grid. "We should probably stay low for the time being. If Sei somehow knows about Clear and Mink, it's a safe bet that he knows about us as well."

Koujaku nodded his agreement and together, they began to search around for a suitable place to hide until the time came to finally act. It wouldn't be much longer now…

Sei would rue the day he ever laid a finger on Aoba.


	11. When We Meet Again

**When We Meet Again**

How long had he been in there? Ever since Virus and Trip had left, Aoba hadn't stirred, still curled into as small of a ball as he could make himself. There was no distinction of time in the cell. It could've been days. Months. Years.

Okay, even he knew he was being melodramatic now, and pushed the thoughts away.

He didn't want to think or feel, still too numb from losing Ren, but he was caught off guard when he began to hear voices, a multitude of them. None of them were familiar…except one. Sitting up, he turned to face the transparent door to see who was coming down the hall.

Two guards in white uniforms similar to police riot gear were dragging someone in the middle with them. The person was Mizuki. The leader of Dry Juice was putting up a fight, struggling against his captors even though his arms were behind him and was being bound with advanced, laser-like handcuffs.

"Get your hands off me, you damn, dirty, cops! Where the hell are you taking me?" They were trying to push him into a cell that was across from Aoba's, but he braced a foot on the side of the door, helping to keep him from going in.

Tired of dealing with his fighting though, one guard pulled out a thin, long metal stick. Before Aoba could give a scream of warning, a visible shock was delivered to Mizuki, the zap causing his legs to sag. None too carefully, he was tossed into the cell on the floor and the door was slid shut behind him.

Aoba waited until the guards had walked away before rushing forward in his cell, cupping his hands around his face to focus in on the body behind the door across from him. Only because Mizuki had been screaming had he been able to hear him but the cells shut out most sounds and with Mizuki also behind a bullet-proof door, he knew they wouldn't be able to hear each other. However, he could see the other slowly rising, sitting up and rubbing his side where he'd been stung.

"Damn, that hurt," Mizuki muttered to himself. He was about to raise a hand for a middle finger salute to the guards but noticed that they were gone. Then he saw someone across from him in another cell, peering at him with wide, familiar hazel eyes.

"Aoba!" he called, his voice echoing in the nearly empty room.

Aoba didn't hear the voice but he could easily make out his name. He waved back enthusiastically, giving a weak smile.

Mizuki stood up slowly, lifting his shirt to examine where he'd been stung. A red welt adorned the area just below his ribs on his left side, but thankfully it wasn't serious. Then he pressed himself against the door, much the same way that Aoba had. Cupping his own hands, he glanced out and down the hallway. Looked like the coast was clear. Perfect.

What was missed during his struggle was that he had dislodged one of the many large, metal studs on his jacket, allowing it to drop into the door frame. While the door appeared to be fully closed, the stud kept it from locking. Checking one more time that nobody was coming, Mizuki pressed his weight against the door and slid it back. It was sheer damn luck that the guards hadn't noticed that the status panel for his door still showed green for open instead of red for locked.

Once out, he saw Aoba also stand up, staring at him in wonder. Aoba instantly tried to do the same thing, but naturally, his was actually locked. Realizing he wasn't going to get out the same way, Aoba shook his head sadly, holding his arms up in a helpless shrug.

_Aoba's so adorable when he doesn't know what to do_, Mizuki chuckled to himself, also wondering why Aoba was there in the first place. However, he'd ask about that later. Right now, he had an idea but wasn't sure how effective it would be. Likely, there were already cameras watching them so he had to move fast. Backing up to get a little more room, he started to raise his right leg in a way that he'd only seen once before. It was many years ago, during a time when his blue-haired friend dared to be more edgy and wild. It was the move that made him, to this day, request Aoba join his Rib team: the legendary Fox Axe Kick.

With as much force as he could manage, he brought his leg down on the locking panel. A resounding crunch rang out and the box gave one bright flash before going dead, a small trail of acrid smoke rising. Aoba wasted no time in again pressing his weight against the door and Mizuki joined him on the other side, pressing hard so that his sweaty palms would stick as they slid the door back.

But that would've been too much like right. Instead, the door moved about an inch before getting jammed.

"Fuck!" Mizuki swore, kicking it.

Aoba was also highly disappointed but tried not to show it. "It was worth a shot, man. Don't beat yourself up about it." He reached his fingers through the small gap, resting them on the edge of the door.

Mizuki wrapped his fingers with his, giving a squeeze. "You hang tight. I'm gonna go spring the members of Dry Juice in the other cell. They figured with me as their leader, all of us in one cell would mean I'd rally them for something. Well they got that right! Once they're free, we can create enough of a distraction to bust you out of here. Just…wait for me, okay?"

Aoba appreciated the strong front Mizuki was putting up. He nodded and squeezed the hand back. "Okay. You do what you have to do."

An indescribable feeling ran through Mizuki for only the briefest of moments before he realized he was still holding Aoba's hand. He slowly let go and backed away. "Yeah. I'll return…in a little bit…" Before he could choke out any other words, he began to run down the long, white corridor.

While Mizuki ran off, Aoba slid to the floor, keeping his hand still in the space between the door and the wall to keep it from closing again. He was happy Mizuki was okay, but his entire purpose of coming to Platinum Tower in the first place was to trade himself in place of all others that Sei might threaten. He was still too shocked to process that Sei had really used Scrap on him and not in the positive way he'd learned last year either. And yet, had Sei really wanted to do damage, he could've broken him.

The same way Aoba had broken Mizuki the year before.

He shut down those thoughts hard. Fine, Sei still needed him then. That meant he was still a bargaining chip and a worth-while player in whatever game it was that Sei was playing. That meant Sei would never really hurt him. And if he wouldn't hurt him…

An idea occurred to Aoba but he wanted to reject it as well the moment it came to him. It meant getting more people involved. Mizuki was already doing his best at the moment, but this truly was not Mizuki's battle to be fought. Once Mizuki returned, he decided he'd tell him to focus his efforts in getting out of the building along with his gang. He shouldn't be targeted again so long as he himself stayed.

_Alright, Aoba…let's do this._

With that, he began to sing.

~.~.~

They had only gone down a hallway or two when the entire procession stopped.

"We're there already?" Mink grunted, looking around. He was unable to tell one white door from another, save for the numbers beside them or a plaque near the top that told the use of the room. Whoever was hired for the interior designing needed to be fired as their futuristic monochrome décor wasn't appreciated.

"I hear singing," Alpha frowned, trying to pinpoint its direction.

"Yes…it's that stupid song that _you _sang that last time, the one that caused us to short-circuit," Beta said, tossing the comment at Clear, who stood in front of him. "I guess your pseudo-master is singing like a jailbird from his cell! Well isn't that just—hey!"

Before he could react, Clear had reared back with an elbow, smashing in Beta's face. Sparks flew out at the immense force used and the robot went down heavily. Mink also snapped into action, quickly twisting the neck of Alpha, who stood in front of him. The head was left with wires hanging down, like tendons. Dropping it on the floor, he put his boot through Alpha's skull.

Wanting to get out of dodge of the inevitable wave of guards, he was just about to head down one hallway when Clear promptly began to sprint down another. "Oi, where the hell are you going?" Mink called but Clear didn't stop running.

"Master!" Clear cried out, running full force.

For half a second, Mink thought about still going a different route, maybe finding the elevator that'd take him to the top. But this time around, he was unarmed. The guns he had during last year's raid had been confiscated by Akushima and yet again, the short notice of the mission left him woefully unprepared. Clicking his tongue, he decided to take off after Clear.

The android was already nearly at the end of the hallway. Just as he was about to turn a corner, a half dozen guards met up with him, carrying the special beam guns that were unique to Platinum Jail security. Mink was about to double back the other way when he saw Clear, who hadn't lost an ounce of momentum, barrel right into the midst of the group. Even if Clear wasn't human, Mink knew that those guns would cause serious damage if they hit but Clear seemed unconcerned with that or anything else other than getting to Aoba.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY, PLEASE!" he shouted both aggressively and politely, causing Mink to stare on, dumbfounded, as Clear connected his fist to the face of one of the guards. The man was hit so hard, he spun like a starfish before a human-shaped hole was created in the wall, the man himself disappearing into the next room.

When one tried to fire off their gun, Clear ripped it away. Knocking the man out with another punch, he then began to fire at the others, the rounds as fast as a machine gun. They fell like bowling pins or scattered like roaches, leaving the way uncontested. Tossing the gun aside, Clear continued his sprinting, his gentle face lined with focused determination.

Mink would never say it out loud but the entire scene had been rather badass of Clear. Not wanting to fall behind this unusual form of protection, he chased on, picking up the discarded gun for himself.

After a few more twists and turns, they came to an elevator. Clear slid in and pressed a button to go down.

"Wouldn't Aoba be with Sei? Sei's likely at the top," Mink said, looking at him out the corner of his eye, half ready to spring into action upon the opening of the door.

"Master's voice came from below," Clear said, tapping a foot in impatience. "In fact, it's growling even louder. Aoba-san's down here, I know it."

Mink couldn't hear anything other than the hum of the elevator, yet as he thought on it, Aoba being down where the jails were likely at (finally, something actually relevant to the amusement attraction's name!) wasn't too surprising. Ren had been turned off. Aoba held onto that dog as though his life depended on it and while Mink couldn't understand his attachment, it did allow them to deduce that if Aoba didn't have Ren then Aoba wasn't in a good situation.

Also considering Sei seemed to be the one in charge now, it would mean he had put Aoba down here. The more and more he heard about this guy, the more he was starting to sound like Toue version 2.0.

The elevator came to a halt on the floor labeled B3, the third basement level. Mink hefted up the laser gun with his finger on the trigger, ready for all-out war. Beside him, he heard the tightening of leather gloves as Clear balled up his fists.

But instead, they were met with nothing. Mink wasn't sure how he felt about that. However though, he didn't have time to think on it as Clear immediately sprinted away. Following him still, he was led down several halls very similar to the ones on the upper levels except these had white jail cells with futuristic clear doors. Had the cell he was locked up in during his own stint in the slammer had doors like this, his success rate last year would've been much lower. Hard to trade items and information when you can't even speak to the people around you.

Mink pulled himself back to the present though when Clear again called out, "Master!" with his voice ringing back at them painfully loud.

"Shut the hell up!" he snarled back, hoisting the gun higher though he had no formal training of running with firearms and it wasn't as easy as the movies made it seem. "Don't unnecessarily blow our cover. The longer we can remain undetected, the more we can accomplish. Besides, Aoba likely can't hear us behind these doors anyways so screaming for him is—"

_"Sway, sway, swaying between the waves __  
__Sparkle, sparkle, sparkling, their voices drift into the distance…"_

Someone was singing. It was faint, but he could hear it. And if he could, he knew Clear definitely heard it. He looked at the robot to ensure he wasn't the one whispering the words, but instead Clear answered the voice back with the next lines:

_"The dreaming jellyfish sing their song_

_And sleep on the gentle shore_

_Sway, sway, swaying, a ray of light_

_Sparkle, sparkle, sparkling, their voices drift to you."_

The voices were completely different, Clear's carrying much more strength and skill. The other voice answered back with the next verse and automatically, Clear replied, his sonorous voice likely filling the entire floor. The look on Clear's face prevented him from reprimand, a face of pure joy and hope. He smiled when he sang, tears streaming as he ran that much faster, searching so desperately until…

There! The four-hundredth and twenty-second cell was nothing special but there they found Aoba, sitting on the floor against the wall. Somehow he had amazingly managed to push the door back just the slightest bit, his fingertips wrapped around the outside edge. At seeing them, there was a moment of a questioning flicker in Aoba's eyes directed at Mink, but then his eyes drifted to Clear.

"Wow, that was faster than I expected," he grinned.

Clear's silent crying became outright sobs. "_Master!_" It was nothing for the door to then be ripped completely off its track, thrown down the hall as casually as tossing a can. Aoba didn't even get a chance to stand up before Clear was on his knees, hugging him in an embrace that probably threatened to break half the bones in his body.

Just then, they heard the sound of footsteps. "Shit," Mink muttered, "You two, move it! We're sitting ducks out here!"

"It's likely Mizuki and Dry Juice," Aoba said, unable to get up with Clear still pressing into him. "Mizuki managed to get out of his cell but his team was put somewhere else. He helped me get my door open a little bit but it jammed so he went to get his team's help."

Right on cue, Mizuki's trademark red ensemble slid into view, almost overshooting the hallway. Behind him was a small hoard of people. Mizuki saw Clear and Mink and abruptly stopped, causing a few of his members to crash into him, nearly sending him toppling. Upon spotting him, Mink didn't miss how his eyes narrowed, ready for a fight.

Instead though, his eyes softened when he saw Clear and then widened as he took in the door that was no longer there. "How…but where'd it go…" he said dumbly, searching around.

Nobody answered. Mizuki wasn't in on Clear not being human and it was probably best not to mention it just yet. Besides, half of Mizuki's team was present. Aoba figured once he was ready to divulge the secret, it would be with Mizuki only.

However, speaking of Clear, he still hadn't gotten up yet. "Clear, we should get going. We'll be noticed here. Assuming Sei doesn't have cameras on us right now."

"I know," Clear sniffed, his eyes realistically puffy and red. "I was so scared you'd been hurt. I wouldn't have ever forgiven myself for letting you come here alone if you had been. I'm so happy you're okay. So very happy."

Aoba gave a tender smile back and tried to again stand, but Clear put a hand on the back of his head and pulled him into a kiss.

In front of Mink.

In front of Mizuki.

In front of Dry Juice.

Fuck it, this was one step closer to everyone getting to know the real him. He wasn't ashamed of Clear and the times were changing. Aoba held back the impending furious blush for a few precious seconds as he savored the moment before the two broke away. Immediately, Aoba's face flushed a deep crimson and he looked down to avoid the stares.

"Holy shit," Mizuki said.

A few Dry Juice members gave catcalls and impressed whistles. Someone even shouted out, "Encore!"

Mink said nothing.

Clear finally stood up, pulling a still bashful Aoba with him. "Aoba-san, we tried to use Ren's signal to locate you but it disappeared. I couldn't detect anything and neither could Tori, Beni, or Noiz's Allmates, all of them came up empty and—"

"Wait, Koujaku and Noiz are here as well?" Aoba stopped him, forgetting his embarrassment.

"Yep! We all wanted to save you, master!" Clear nodded happily. "But we were caught by Alpha and Beta and so we don't know where Noiz and Koujaku are." His voice trailed off with a note of worry.

"Tori likely met up with them," Mink announced. "They're probably heading this way as we speak."

"Someone should tell them then that I'm okay," said Aoba, finally stepping out of that damn cell and beginning to follow the numbers by counting down. "They'll have no idea where to start with finding me. I'm sorry for dragging all of you into this. In fact, all of you can go now," he called behind him, with everyone keeping up with his brisk walk. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"Aw, fuck that!" Mink roared, grabbing his arm to spin him around. He heard Clear actually give a growl that would give Ren a run for his money, but he ignored it. "Letting you do shit your way is how you got into this mess in the first place! No, from now on, you're about to have your own personal security detail! Trouble seems to have a tendency of always finding you when you go off alone."

Mink took the lead this time with the others following. When they reached the elevator, he took a head count and got to twenty before giving up. "There's too many of us to go at once. I say Aoba, Clear and I go first and make a path. You guys can follow after."

He figured there'd be bitching and moaning but surprisingly, Mizuki agreed. "That works. I don't know how you guys managed to get that door off but it looks like you have more resources than we do. And you're armed," he nodded at Mink's gun.

Mink gave a curt nod before pressing the button for the elevator door. It immediately opened, blessedly still empty. He and Clear stepped on, but Aoba hung back with his friend.

"You take care and be careful," Aoba said, holding out a fist. "And…thank you."

"Hey, don't mention it! You be careful out there too. You guys are gonna get all the good action first so make sure to give 'em hell for me!" Mizuki met his fist with his own, grinning broadly.

With a wave, Aoba got on the elevator and the doors slid closed. He turned around towards the view of Platinum Jail that could be seen through the window, the sky completely dark and the streets lit up brighter than ever. He had to admit, it was very beautiful but he just couldn't shake all the bad memories associated with the amusement park. In fact, everything that'd happened up to now was even worse than the last time. At least then, he'd gotten the satisfaction of meeting his brother, even briefly. Now that same brother had become his enemy. It was such a cliché and he wanted to laugh but couldn't.

He sighed and pressed his head against the glass, enjoying its cool texture. Far below, he saw crowds of people cheering for something, probably an outdoor event. Even though he was rising higher, he could make out that many of the people actually looked very upset. As he peered down at them harder, he also noticed that there was a very unusual amount of people wearing red and green…

"Koujaku and Noiz!" he shouted out, causing both Clear and Mink to jump. Yes, Mink jumped, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Aoba promised to get his satisfaction out of that later. "Down there! It's Ruff Rabbit and Beni-Shigure!"

The other two also peered out the window at the sight. Both of the two groups were shouting in front of Platinum Tower and while it was too hard to make out what was being said, he saw that a few people had even made signs with messages like "No Rib, No Rhyme!" and "Down with corporate greed!" He wasn't sure what it was about but either way, the fact that Noiz and Koujaku had managed to come together, on their own, was amazing. The chaos the two had created was something quite beautiful.

If they were giving their all, then he definitely had to do his part so that nobody's efforts would be in vain. He turned around, impatiently flexing the fingers in his gloved hand. He felt a smile creep to his face and for the first time in a year, felt his other presence rise, but Sly respectfully hung back, waiting until he had permission to come out. Which would be soon…very soon…


	12. Stand By Me

This is the next to last chapter. It's a long one so read at leisure and enjoy!

* * *

**Stand By Me**

Sei stood in front of his office window, looking down below to the crowded front of the building. While there were other large portions of various colors mixed in, it seemed the colors of red and green dominated the ranks. His non-twin associates had filled him in previously that these were the Rib teams of Ruff Rabbit and Beni-Shigure. From their intel, he knew they were rivals so when did they decide to join forces…?

His door opened at that moment without any sort of courtesy knock beforehand. He scowled in displeasure and was about to reprimand the person but stopped when he saw it was Virus. The man's glasses were slightly askew, his hair a bit ruffled and his clothes were wrinkled. Sei had never seen him looking anything short of perfection, every hair in its proper place, so at the sight of him he couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow.

"Considering the protests I'm seeing, I'm going to guess things didn't go quite as planned," Sei said.

Virus shrugged with a grin. "Never would've guessed they'd rally together. I find it rather hilariously sad that they'd organize together to legalize _street fighting,_ of all things." He laughed with a headshake, walking further into the room to also look below out the window.

_He gets way too comfortable in my space, _Sei thought, watching how Virus looked completely at ease in the office. _Once all of this is finished, I'm really going to need to have a talk with him about it. And Trip as well. Speaking of which…where is Trip? _He hadn't seen him in the last few hours nor had he heard any reports from him. He was just about to use his Coil to call him when he saw a blonde head poke around the doorframe.

The look on Trip's face was intent. His gaze completely bypassed Sei, instead landing on the momentarily distracted figure of Virus. Without a word, Trip quickly strode into the room, breezing past their boss without even so much as a nod. As soon as he drew close to the other person, he grabbed their shoulder to spin them around and—

Sei figured he knew what was about to happen and prepared to turn away. Instead though…Trip hugged Virus. It wasn't the hug of buddies or family. It was deep and intense, nearly as intimate as if Trip had instead kissed him. Being ever so slightly taller, Trip wrapped his arms around Virus, one hand curled protectively around his waist and the other threading through the back of his hair.

Caught off guard, Virus was momentarily stunned but he forced himself to regain his composure. "Hey, I said I'd return soon, didn't I?" he chuckled, attempting humor. "It wasn't even one day, what's up with—"

"Shut up," Trip commanded. "It's not funny. I was worried about you." The arms tightened around the man. "I'm never going to let you leave my sight," he whispered fiercely into Virus's ear. "_Never._"

Unable to completely look away from the two, Sei felt a pang run through his chest. Whatever it was between these two, it was deep and special. He even knew enough to surmise that Clear shared something equally intense with his brother. But what did he have? An entire empire, so to speak, at his finger tips and nobody to share it with. How many people even knew he existed? How many people would cry if he were gone?

He felt himself getting choked up and used all of his will to force the emotions back down. Virus and Trip being there greatly helped; he didn't want to cry in front of them. Now wasn't the time for pity-parties. He had a company to run and quite the riot to deal with outside. He'd worry about his love life later.

"If you two have finished, I'd like a full status report," he said with as much authority as he could manage for the moment. "Virus, you were actually out there in the field and Trip, I had you monitoring security again but you never gave any status updates." A military persona? It helped to keep him calm for the moment.

The two had been murmuring quietly to one another but at his words, Virus tried to pull away. Trip wasn't having any of that and continued to keep one arm around his waist. Clearly annoyed but not wanting to squabble, Virus said, "Akushima surprisingly led the charge on arresting the Rib members. I say surprisingly as I figured his last act of service to us was the Black Needle incident. I suppose he did this pro bono."

It was actually Trip who snorted here and said, "Akushima doesn't do anything pro bono. He's gonna be looking for a check for this soon."

Sei shrugged. "I said I'd ensure he was compensated for his work and I'll include this with it. So I suppose after the arrests, that's when everyone started to protest the fliers I gave you."

Virus nodded. "Precisely."

Turning to Trip, Sei asked, "And any new developments on your end?"

Trip shrugged equally in nonchalance. "All of our security is outside, keeping the crowds at bay. I saw the Alpha and Beta units come in as well with Clear and that other guy. I think his name was Mink. Seems like they took the units out though and wiped out a group of guards before heading to an elevator. I wasn't able to track them any further but their destination number was B3 so looks like they went to the basement cells."

"And you didn't think I needed to know that?" Sei said tersely. "All of that is extremely important!"

Another shrug; Sei wished he could Scrap him and make him dislocate his own shoulder so he'd never have to see that careless shrug again. "Their timing is rather perfect what with no security to stop them. Short of using your powers on every one of them, there was nothing you could do either. You nearly died from over-using your powers. I'm sure you're not looking to repeat that."

Sei gritted his teeth but…he knew Trip was right. Usually this level of logic came from Virus, which made the blow doubly hurt. It would be nothing for Clear to free Aoba and Dry Juice. And their next stop…would be here. "We might as well start preparing ourselves for this," he said aloud. "They'll be coming through that door at any minute. So be it. It's time Aoba and I finish what we've started."

The two non-twins shared identical smiles as they nodded in eager agreement.

~.~.~

Outside in front of the building, the hoard of Rib and Rhyme members pushed against the human barricade of the guards, trying to shove their way inside. While the front was on offense, the majority of the back of the group had taken up chants and slogans. Drowning most everyone else out was a remix being led by Kou, using a very familiar _stomp, stomp, clap! Stomp, stomp, clap! _pattern. Mainly it was Beni-Shigure singing but Kou was thrilled to see other Rib teams join in, raising their song to a deafening pitch:

_Tired of the Man tryna stick his hand_

_Down in our pockets and_

_Rhyme is nothin' but a greed scam_

_Kick Usui in the face, a big disgrace_

_Toue's not taking over this place!_

_Singing, we are, we are Ribsteez! _

_Sing it!_

_We are, we are Ribsteez!_

Watching from the side, Koujaku noticed that the pushing began to follow the rhythm of the song, bolstering their army. More guards spilled out to contain the crowd, which was exactly their plan. Moving away from the chaos, he ran around to the back of the building where earlier, he'd witnessed the guards coming to the front to see what the commotion was about, leaving the entrance nearly without any defenses.

Noiz was already there, working on hacking the system to get in. Hearing Koujaku walking up, he glanced in his direction before going back to his work. "This is bullshit," he muttered, beads of sweat dotting his forehead. "It took me two minutes to get into this place last time. It's taken me already five. Every time I get close, I keep coming across some kind of foreign programming that stops me. I can't beat the damn thing."

Ordinarily, Koujaku would poke fun at his misfortune but he needed Noiz right now in order to get to Aoba. It hurt deeply to admit it but…Noiz's failure was his failure. Going through the front _might _work…but the likelihood was so small, it wasn't worth it. So instead, he put away his sarcastic remarks and took a deep breath. Putting a hand on Noiz's shoulder (which caused the boy to jerk away; Koujaku acted like he hadn't noticed), he told him, "Just take your time. I'm sure you can do it. This thing has to have a weakness and if anyone can expose it, it's you."

For a moment, Noiz's green eyes lost some of their hard frustration, softening in gratitude. But he caught himself a second later, turning away to hide his face. "Whatever. Shut up so I can concentrate."

"Sure thing," Koujaku said jovially, turning to hide the smile on his face. He walked a few feet away to keep guard but he knew his message had hit home.

Noiz took a deep breath and began again from the top with decoding the program. Most of it was run of the mill stuff he'd seen with other security systems but before long, he yet again came up against the foreign program. On his Coil, the program presented itself as a person, almost like seeing a virtual character in Rhyme. However, this person wore no unique costume like in the virtual game. Though the person was rather androgynous, he got the impression that they were male. The person wore a fedora with a white shirt and skeletal pants. While his Usagimodoki were with him in their rabbit form, he was always defeated with just a simple command from the program.

"Stop."

But after several failed runs, he thought he finally knew what this was. He always became powerless when those eyes locked on his. It wasn't his rabbits that were being stopped; it was him. Clear had mentioned back at Mink's hideout that Sei had revealed himself to also use Scrap, though he admitted to not knowing specifically how Sei used his Scrap powers.

Noiz remembered what it felt like to have those powers used on him last year. Aoba had Scrapped him, with the bitter sweet result of him now able to feel pain. But other than that command, the program seemed to have no other defenses.

Likely that was because that alone was enough. For someone that didn't know about Scrap, that one command was all that was needed. Now that he'd exposed its secret though, it was nothing to keep his eyes averted and to have his rabbits take the program out. Like a Rhyme battle, they pummeled their way through the coding of "Sei", until at last with a crack, the program shattered.

Since when did hacking look more like a video game? He didn't know nor care. Since games were his lifeblood, it made his job that much easier.

Within another thirty seconds, he heard the satisfying click of the door opening. He swiftly rolled up his tools and closed the windows on his Coil but Koujaku strode through the door first. Before continuing on though, he paused and gave him the thumbs-up. "I told you that you could do it," he winked before striding on.

Yet again, Noiz was left speechless. This was getting really tiring. Quickly packing up his tools, he chased after him inside the building and down one of the many spotless white walls. "So I see they must've hired the same people for Platinum Tower as they did for Oval Tower," he muttered, looking around at the familiar design.

"Yeah, but let's hope they at least did away with the dogs," Koujaku whispered, glancing in multiple directions before turning down another random hall.

And coming face to face with said dogs.

"Aw shit, I jinxed us," he muttered, backing up. These weren't the cute puppy-dog, Roomba security Allmates from last time either. These were Doberman in shape and size. And right before their eyes, the heads grotesquely split open like a banana to reveal the shiny barrel of a gun.

"I can hack them like last year, but it'll take time. I'll need you to cover me," Noiz said, already having scoped out the nearest security keypad.

Koujaku pulled his sword out its sheath. "That's fine, but make it fast. I'm not gonna be able to hold these guys off for long."

As though to prove that point, one of the dogs fired a hot beam right past his head, narrowly missing scraping his face. Koujaku gave an angry shout and charged headlong into the group, causing them to focus their sights on his body as a moving target. With several powerful swings, he began to decapitate them, also kicking any that jumped in the way.

However, while these Allmates couldn't zip along the walls like their predecessors, having four legs made them much more agile and many were able to dodge his swings. One of the Allmates that hadn't opened their heads clamped down on his arm with a vicious bite. "Gyaaa!" Koujaku hissed, swinging his arm into a wall as hard as he could. The force caused the back of the dog's head to hit the wall and he repeated the process until at last, it let go and fell to the floor as a mound of fur and sparks.

He wanted to assess the damage on his arm but just then, he heard a painful scream from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Noiz was crouched, one arm around his side where blood was soaking his white shirt.

"Noiz!" Koujaku screamed. Considering the disintegrating power of those beams, they could easily eat a hole through a person. Noiz might need immediate medical attention. For all their banter, he certainly didn't want the damn bean sprout to die, not here, not on his watch. With a furious roar, he kicked it into overdrive. He dealt several fatal slashes to the Allmates closest to him, slowly advancing back towards the fallen boy.

He could feel the rage growing stronger and knew that if this continued, he'd completely lose control. He was certain he'd win against the Allmates at that point but it would also likely result in killing Noiz as well. Yet as it were right now, he wouldn't make it to him in time. He was scared, probably more scared than he'd ever been. He was both the only savior and the only obstacle in the way of Noiz living or dying.

He would have to take the chance. Maybe he could retain some of his sanity. He had to uncap his powers or else they both wouldn't make it. He was just about to call forth the power of his tattoos when a shadow passed over his face from above. A second later, another, much larger shadow also flew by and he was given a reprieve by the dog Allmates focusing their attention instead on the new arrivals.

Swooping from above were Beni and Tori. Beni's small size didn't allow for offensive attacks but he zipped around, causing the Allmates to fire their guns and miss. Instead, the bullets would hit the other dogs, wiping out their own ranks. Tori was much larger and able to physically deal damage, choosing opportune moments and swooping down to gouge out the Allmate eyes. The bird also quickly figured out how to land directly on top of the barrel of the gun, causing the dogs to fire pointlessly at the ceiling when they couldn't get a lock on him. With the much needed distraction, Koujaku regained control of himself to continue beheading the robots until at last, the area was cleared.

He hurried over to Noiz, who was lying on his side, groaning. "Noiz! Are you gonna be alright? Damnit, I'm sorry…I was supposed to be protecting you." He attempted to gently pull Noiz up, but the boy hissed sharply, causing him to let go. Instead though, Noiz grit his teeth and pulled himself into a sitting position. His shirt was soaked in even more blood, making Koujaku want to look away.

"It's fine," Noiz panted, putting a hand against the wall to slowly stand up. "It's actually just a flesh wound, looks worse than it really is." But as he said that, his legs buckled and he wobbled dangerously. Koujaku immediately put himself under one of his arms to hoist him back up. For all of the kid's bravado, he knew Noiz was in serious pain. He could feel that Noiz was nearly leaning all of his weight on him.

"It's times like these that I wish I still couldn't feel pain," he chuckled, causing him to wince again.

"Yeah, well, then you wouldn't know you were hurt this badly," Koujaku said. He pulled open the top of his kimono and tugged roughly at the bandages around his ribs, which were there only for modesty, not because he was actually injured. Leaning Noiz against the wall again, he lifted up one side of his shirt hem. He took it as a good sign that Noiz was able to protest, but the movements were feeble and pulling away hurt too much.

With the shirt up, Koujaku was able to see the extent of the damage. The boy was right, it was a flesh wound, but it was a nasty one. A horrible red burn had caught him going diagonally upwards, from nearly his hip to his rib cage. Looking at how far it stretched, Koujaku unwrapped more of his bandages and began to wind them around Noiz, having to pull a tiny bit so it didn't move.

"Sorry, I know that hurts," he told him as Noiz flinched for the second time when he pulled. "I'm trying to be as gentle as possible."

"Well try harder," Noiz grunted. He was standing against the wall with both hands on its surface, as though being frisked by the police. The stance allowed him to keep his balance and kept his arms out of the way as Koujaku spun the bandages around him.

However for his cheeky remark, Koujaku relished in another yelp as he purposely tugged a bit too hard. This resulted in a stream of curse words from the kid, but Koujaku was happy to hear them. So long as Noiz had the energy to spit crass remarks, he knew the boy was going to make it.

Once finished, he nodded at his handiwork, but frowned at Noiz's shirt. It was now more red than white, black or green. In a split second decision, he took off his entire kimono, leaving him in nothing but his jeans. Before Noiz could stop him, he pulled off his top shirt and his black under shirt, replacing them by draping the kimono over his body.

Noiz scowled at him, but gratefully slipped his arms into the sleeves, blushing and looking away. "You could've at least kissed me first before undressing me," he muttered.

"Heh," Koujaku snorted, loosely tying his obi around his waist. "Do you want me to kiss you?"

The babble of incoherent speech that came from Noiz afterwards was well worth the embarrassing comment. Koujaku patted him on the head, ruffling his hair to show he was joking. But now, a more immediate issue presented itself. Noiz was too injured to run around in search of Sei. However, with Clear and Mink having been captured, it was truly up to them to get to Aoba.

Suddenly though, Beni spoke up. "If you two would shut up for a moment, I have some news! I can contact Aoba's Coil when previously I wasn't able to. Something was jamming the signal."

"Really? Where is he?" Koujaku immediately asked.

"His signal seems to be moving further away," Beni said after a moment of concentrating. "But I can also now sense Mizuki's signal and his is much closer."

Tori added, "I don't have contact information on a 'Mizuki', but I too can connect to Aoba's Coil, which is moving further away. The signals of Mink and Clear's Coils are also close to Aoba's."

Looking sharply at him, Beni squawked, "Then why the hell didn't you contact them sooner?! You've had access to Mink and Clear's Coils this entire time!"

"I was instructed to find Koujaku and Noiz," Tori said with dignity. "Not only that, but calling Mink or Clear would remind the Alpha and Beta units that they still had their Coils on them, which likely would've resulted in them being compromised. I opted to stick to my instructions until I was certain I could safely send a message. As their signals are so close to Aoba's, it would seem they're already with him, beating us to his rescue. This said, I have completed my task. I will go rejoin Mink now."

"Wait, we're coming with you," Noiz said, pushing off of the wall. Now that he wasn't losing so much blood, his color had come back and he wasn't struggling so hard to remain standing. "I can make it. But first…"

He carefully knelt down again in front of the keypad he'd been working on earlier and attached a cord from his Coil into the panel. Like previously, his fingers flashed across the virtual keyboard until with a satisfactory nod, he stood up again. All down the halls, they could hear the sound of doors unlocking and several heavy thuds hitting the floor, which were probably other Allmates.

"I just infected their entire mainframe," he said proudly, following Tori in the direction of the signals. "They're not gonna be getting that back online anytime soon."

Koujaku followed him, openly gaping in amazement. "You're dangerous as fuck, you know that? Like seriously, you could probably bring governments to their knees."

"Don't think I haven't thought about it," Noiz shrugged, stepping into an elevator that Tori was hovering in front of. "But I don't relish the idea of having to live off the grid to ensure I'm never found out. Too much of a hassle."

"Aoba's going up but Mizuki's going down," Noiz's Allmate informed.

"Thanks, Midori," Noiz said, pressing the arrow to go up. "Aoba's our main target so we'll go to him."

"…Midori?" Koujaku asked him, looking down at the cube.

"Yeah, some time ago, Aoba told me to name them," Noiz said, devoid of any interest. "He came up with Midori since they're green."

"Are _all _of them Midori? You have about twenty of them…"

The boy gave a quiet grunt. "I guess. I dunno, I'm sure as hell not about to name each individual one. That one though I've had the longest and has a small chip in the corner, so I call it Midori."

"Pi!" The cube chirped happily at its name.

The elevator soon reached the top floor. There was little to nothing up there except for a pair of very large red doors. Clearly, this was Sei's office.

But for as much as the doors stood out, the first thing that caught Koujaku's attention was the group standing in front of that door. His vision specifically focused on the one dressed primarily in blue, wearing that ridiculous puffy coat. He'd never been so happy to see that marshmallow jacket in his entire life.

"Aoba!" He shouted, unable to contain himself. He broke into a run and to his delight, Aoba did the same. The two collided in a hug, him gently rubbing Aoba's sensitive hair.

"You guys made it!" Aoba smiled, looking from him to Noiz. But then he realized that Koujaku was shirtless…with Noiz wearing his top. "Um…do I want to know?" he asked cautiously,

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it," said Noiz. "One of those damn dogs nicked me; my shirt got bloody and he lent me his kimono. Speaking of which," he said to Koujaku, "How the hell can you stand these sleeves? They flap around all over the place."

The kimono fit fine for Koujaku but Noiz's smaller frame was drowned in the material, his hands completely hidden by the sleeves. He began to pull at them but Koujaku stopped him by yelling, "Don't do that! That's pure silk, you'll tear it!"

"Who the hell wears silk on a daily basis?" Noiz retorted. "Oh, right, pretty boys like you!"

In truth, his (now deceased) yakuza family allowed for him to have more than enough money to afford such finery but he kept that to himself. Instead, he pulled a thin fabric cord from his pocket, which when wearing the kimono properly, would be used to keep the obi in place. Spinning him around for the second time that day, he tied up the sleeves on Noiz so that his hands were freed.

"Japanese clothing is weird," Noiz huffed once he was finished. Koujaku said nothing else, accepting this as the closest form of a thank-you that Noiz would give.

"Koujaku-san! Noiz-san! I'm so happy you're okay!" Clear cried, clapping his hands together. "This calls for the Jellyfish Song!"

"NO!" Mink shouted, knocking him on the head. "This calls for us to get our asses through that door. Let's get this done and over with. I have shit to do….been getting slammed with messages all day from buyers asking where their merchandise is."

Aoba gave him a curious look, not understanding what he was talking about. However, he nodded in agreement. Tucked into his duffel bag (which thankfully had not been confiscated, likely because there was nothing else of value in it) was his Allmate's body. Through those doors was the key to getting the rest of his friend back.

_It's now or never. Let's finish this, Sei._

* * *

Credit for the song parody goes to "We Will Rock You" by Queen. Also, Midori's name isn't my creation; Aoba indeed does name Noiz's Allmate (or at least one of them?) in one of Noiz's drama CD's.

And lastly, as mentioned earlier, this is the next to last chapter. Stay tuned for the final showdown!


	13. A World Without Danger

Alas, the final chapter! It's another very long one so take your time reading it :)

* * *

**A World Without Danger**

When Aoba opened the large double doors, he found he wasn't too surprised to see Sei leaning back against his desk, facing him. To his left were Virus and Trip who…looked to be holding each other. He didn't hide his displeasure at seeing them but he had trouble keeping the scowl on his face when he saw his brother. He still wanted so much to sit and talk to him like regular siblings, to find out more about him. But now wasn't the time for that.

And depending on how things went, they may never have that chance.

Reaching for his anger instead, he yelled, "Give back Ren! Your stupid goons stole him from me."

Sei cast the non-twins a look over his shoulder. "That true?"

The two smiled and Trip pulled the familiar tiny gold chip from his breast pocket, holding it up between his finger and thumb. "You did say to ensure that he couldn't be tracked."

"We only followed orders," Virus added slickly.

"Actually, my words were to turn Ren off," Sei said, turning back around with a hand under his chin. "However, that wouldn't have been very effective if we then left him with you, Aoba. And yet," he said to his employees, "You left him his Coil. Why?"

The smile on their faces darkened with Virus having the audacity to say, "We forgot."

What they refused to tell Sei was that they'd taken the chip as payback to Aoba for not coming with them last year. Considering Sei's more extensive knowledge of his powers, he wasn't as valuable as Aoba. Sei had multiple ways to control and manipulate, which would undermine their own abilities if they were to take him. Thus as punishment for losing out on something so precious, they'd taken the very thing that Aoba cherished probably more than his own life. Seeing Aoba anguish over Ren was better than they could imagine.

Maybe here and now, they could try again…maybe they could convince Aoba that they were all he needed. They would take care of him and love him, just their happy family of three.

But they noticed the intense look being given to them by Sei and their iconic smiles wavered. He couldn't read minds, could he? Who knew…his powers were developing at a rate that no one that knew of the experiments could've ever predicted, leaving Sei as a wild card. The two cast each other a warning glance to remain silent and focused their attention back on Aoba and his group.

"All I ever asked for, Aoba, was your cooperation," Sei told his brother, crossing his arms in front of him. "I promised you that I'd never do anything to hurt this island and yet you couldn't trust me." His voice began to shake with rage. "Do you really think I'm like Toue?"

"Yes!" Clear, Koujaku and Noiz all said at once. Mink grunted an affirmative.

"…Sort of," Aoba admitted, hating the flinch and hurt look on Sei's face as he said it. "You fired people without due cause, hired Akushima to raid Black Needle to force both me and Clear to comply with you and you issued a ban on Rib, something you truthfully don't even have the power to do. You say you would never hurt anyone on this island but you've already churned massive waves. Everyone still thinks this is all caused by Toue coming back but how would I be able to stand by your side as your brother knowing you've done all of this?" Aoba's hazel eyes misted over, pleading for answers.

Sei gave a deep sigh, nodding. "Okay. I get it. So things haven't gone as smoothly as I had hoped. But Aoba, I can fix this—"

"Give me back Ren."

"What? Look, forget about Ren for a moment, we can change all of this—"

"_Give me back—" _

Aoba was about to use Scrap. Before his brother could complete his command, Sei hacked into his mind with a single word: _"Quiet."_

Aoba fell silent immediately. However, Clear wasted no time in running right up to Sei with a fist raised. "You leave master alone!" he screamed, too enraged to care that he was about to strike someone dear to Aoba. Just before his fist was to connect, Sei turned his attention on him instead.

_"Destroy your keylock," _Sei instructed.

As though hitting a brick wall, Clear jerked to a stop. The hand that had just been raised lowered down to his pocket, pulling out the large knife he kept for extreme purposes. Logic screamed for him to stop but he wasn't able to; like a marionette having its strings pulled, he was helpless to fight back. A tear streamed down one cheek as he positioned the blade against his skull. "Aoba, san…"

"_Don't do it!" _Aoba called out, breaking out in a run towards him.

To his own astonishment though, Sei found himself launching towards Aoba, tackling him midway. Both fell to the floor, him pulling on his brother's jacket to keep him grounded. The two struggled for a moment until Sei, for a very brief moment, had Aoba pinned.

"Initiate Rhyme field!" he called out loudly. His Coil beeped with a flash before a bright light filled the room and the tell-tale grid pattern of Rhyme decorated the walls, floor and ceiling.

"Damnit, thought I was the only one that could make Rhyme battles without Usui," Noiz muttered, earning him a brief glance from Sei. "Yeah, that's right, I cracked the "secret" on making Rhyme fields. Seriously, whoever does your security coding sucks!"

But before their eyes, the larger than life form of Usui herself rose from the ground, the same as she would with any other Rhyme battle. She smiled benevolently from under the veil, awaiting further instructions.

"What the hell…" Koujaku breathed, never having seen a Rhyme field before.

"It's flashy but what does this have to do with anything?" Mink asked to Sei. "We came here for Aoba. Just give him his damn dog so we can go."

With the field now formed, Sei got off of Aoba, backing up to stand beside Usui. "One final match," he announced, spreading his hands in a grand gesture, not at all unlike a certain monocled tycoon. "If Aoba wins, I will cease and desist in seeking his alliance. But if I win, Aoba, you stay here in Platinum Jail with me to help fix the island. Honestly, I think you win in either case, but it's all I ever asked for to begin with. Do we have a deal?"

Aoba also stood up, first glancing at Clear to make sure he was okay. The knife was dropped on the floor and Clear looked unharmed, but was watching him intensely. Aoba nodded to him once, to show that he was alright. Turning to his brother he said, "Let me get this straight…we're hinging the fate of this island, the lives of thousands of people, on the outcome of a children's virtual fighting game, of all things? You know, instead of letting the Japanese government handle it?"

Sei thought that statement over. "Yeah…yeah, pretty much," he shrugged.

Noiz, Koujaku, Mink and Clear all face-palmed. Aoba only shook his head. "Alright then…I've actually been through crazier."

"Well then, guess you'll be needing this," Virus called and he tossed the gold chip into the air. Aoba accurately caught it, inspecting it briefly before going over to his dropped duffle bag. He pulled Ren out, popping the hidden panel on the back of his neck to insert the chip. Afterwards, he flipped the switch on his stomach to "On".

Ren's eyes glowed briefly with a pixelated pattern before they cleared up. Aoba huffed with tearful joy as Ren wagged his tail and barked. "Aoba, how are you?"

"REN!" Aoba sobbed, squeezing the Allmate so tightly, he was sure he was close to breaking him. He nuzzled his nose through the fur and Ren licked his face, a soft velvet feel devoid of any moisture.

"I'll always be by your side," Ren assured him. "Besides, who else will make you laugh with, 'I love you a thousand times more, baby!'?"

Aoba giggled, wiping his tears on the back of his hand. "That's still as corny as the day you first said it, but I love you too."

Standing just a few feet away, hurt beat through Clear's heart before he controlled it. Aoba had never told him that he loved him. He knew he did…but he wanted to hear it. He wanted Aoba to embrace him as he was holding Ren right now instead of shying away like he usually did. He felt his eyes beginning to mist and bit his lip.

In the middle of the room, Aoba had set down Ren. With a gesture just as dramatic as Sei's had been, Aoba flung out an arm and called, "Ren! Battle form, now!" He brought his Coil to chest height and pressed a button on it with excited anticipation.

Where Ren stood became a tower of blue pixels, climbing higher and higher, higher than even Aoba. When the tiny squares cleared away, Ren stood in his Rhyme form, bare-chested and with the spiked needle collar.

"Damn, Ren's ripped," Koujaku unconsciously said aloud. He looked down at his own abs with a shameful grimace, ignoring the snort that came from Noiz and Mink. He didn't miss the latter rolling their shoulders in such a way as to highlight the ripple of muscles under the tight black shirt. To Koujaku, both could go take a long walk off a very short cliff.

"Ren, Jubilation Set!" Aoba called out on the field, automatically taking the offensive. Nodding, Ren's right arm shifted into a digitized scythe blade. His body crouched wolfishly for a moment before he sprung forward, swiping viciously at Usui.

"Defense!" Sei yelled. A massive yellow glowing shield formed in front of her, ancient runes circling the edge and a pentagram in the center. As soon as the attack had been deflected, Sei followed up with, "Usui, Glory!"

"Shit! Ren, defend yourself!" Aoba instructed. He remembered just how much damage that attack had done last year, a move so powerful he had to wonder if it was even legal.

Ren looked behind him and asked, "What about you, Aoba?"

"Don't worry about me! Protect yourself!" Attacks weren't supposed to hurt the players.

'Supposed to' being the key words. Sei had turned off the pain inhibitors. The blast that hit them jarred his teeth, causing him to hiss. While the others weren't participating, the field covered the entire office, causing them to hold on to the barely visible walls and furniture due to the shockwave.

When it subsided, Aoba could feel the aches in his body but no physical wounds. Ren, however, was bent over and breathing heavily. Above the field floated their life bars and Ren's was already one-third down.

Aoba wasn't going to give his brother the satisfaction of complaining about his very obvious cheating with allowing for pain. Instead, he wracked his brain to think of another attack. Regular offense wasn't going to work. Usui's shield was too large and her hits were too powerful. In a former life, he'd been king of this game. But how…?

_Destroy._

"Hnk!" Aoba flinched, gripping his chest. His vision blurred and he stumbled, causing both Ren and Clear to run up to him.

"Master! What's wrong?"

"It's…him," Aoba whispered, shifting his hand from his chest to his head as he felt a pounding headache coming on. "I don't have Granny's medicine anymore…I thought I was done with him."

Across the room, Sei put a finger to his bottom lip in thought. "So your other self is still fighting for control. I thought we'd resolved that problem last year." He actually looked concerned about his younger brother. He shook his head, his hair swaying softly as he brought up a hand to place over his own heart. "You'll never be happy, Aoba, if you don't accept all of you. The good and the bad. If you only go through life showing the face you think everyone wants to see, then eventually you'll succumb to your emotions and you'll break. Be true to yourself, Aoba, all of yourself!"

Aoba got the strong impression that Sei was not completely talking about him, but himself as well. He'd never heard his brother say anything with so much conviction, not even during the previous year when he determinedly begged to be freed from his pain. No, this was a different Sei, possibly even different from the one of five minutes ago. It was as though he were finally, truly freeing himself. Never again was he going to be made to dance in the palm of someone's hand. Never was he going to tuck his feelings away until he was nothing more than an emotionless shell. This Sei seemed so much stronger, braver and Aoba couldn't help but be overcome with his brother's emotions.

Standing up straighter, he closed his eyes. There in the darkness, he could easily see his other self. He recognized that tell-tale hurt and shunned look on his face, the hands in the coat pockets and the eyes that refused to look at him.

"I'm sorry," Aoba told him. "I said that I would accept you, but here I am, completely breaking that promise. I should trust you more but I'm so scared that you'll permanently hurt someone, I push you away. But…I don't have the knowledge or the strength to win this fight. Please, forgive me yet again."

Sly regarded him with cold eyes for a moment before sighing and drawing out his hands in a shrug. "Well when you say it like that, how could I refuse?" His mouth split into a grin and he walked forward just past Aoba. Looking over his shoulder he said, "I'll take it from here. Everything will work out. Just trust me."

Aoba nodded and closed his eyes again.

When they opened, the change was immediate. Unlike in the past, he was still consciously aware of himself. However, he could feel Sly's presence, not in the background, but as strongly as he could feel his own mind. He was also highly aware that if he tried to explain any of this to anyone other than those in his closest circle, he would be committed to a psych ward. Frankly, he figured he could probably do with some therapy either way.

"Ren," Sly said, causing all in the room to stare wide-eyed at him. The harsher voice was immediately noticeable. "Commence Shooting Star Set. Go!"

Aoba had no idea what "shooting star" meant but Ren, programmed to understand the commands of Rhyme, immediately took up his fighting position again. On the other side of the room, he saw Sei smile eagerly, understanding that now they were finally fighting on equal footing.

Ren began to run swiftly back towards Usui but as he did his body split. Suddenly, there were two Rens. The new Ren split into two more. And those two into two more yet again until there were dozens of the Allmate. Ren's running grew faster and faster until each one became a blur—almost like shooting stars. Each also had transformed one of their arms into a blade and were just about to attack when Sei called out another order.

"Usui, total defense!"

The same shield as last time sprang up, but this time in a prism form, trapping Usui inside. Ren's clones bounced off the walls and disappeared into shattered pixels without making a single dent in the wall.

Aoba groaned. Another failed attempt. Except…Sly was laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked him

"Look," Sly said and pointed up at the life bars.

What caught Aoba's eye at first was that Ren's experience points bar was going up rather quickly. But how? If they weren't landing any hits, it shouldn't be moving. But then he looked closer at Usui's—and gasped. It was going down. Very, very slowly, only pinches at a time, but it was moving.

"Blocks in Rhyme are not completely impervious to damage," Sly explained to him, looking quite proud of himself. "You blocked earlier with Ren but still took damage. You also still get attack and experience points without having to wait until the battle ends. Ren gets points for every single clone that attacks, which is a quick way to level him up. In fact, he's about to obtain a new level right about now…"

The bar for experience points reached the end with a happy _ding! _The Rens on the field glowed for a moment before white orbs swirled around them, signaling a level boost. Aoba wanted to cheer for Sly's brilliant strategy but then he looked at Usui's level. It was much, much higher than Ren's. They'd be here all day before Ren got even remotely close to hers.

"I heard that," Sly said. "We share the same mind, remember? Trust, I'm aware that this tactic isn't going to last forever. Even with the shields down, Ren's not strong enough to deal massive damage. Unless…we're willing to do something crazy."

"Sly, I don't like crazy," Aoba told him uneasily. Crazy and Sly Blue almost went hand in hand.

"Heard that as well," Sly told him, but was clearly not offended. If anything, he took it as a compliment. "If you don't mind a little pain, there's a way we can defeat Usui."

Within himself, Aoba stared across at Sly. "What the hell?! What are you planning?"

"There's a little-known move where you can get your opponent to attack you instead of your Allmate. In a normal Rhyme battle, it runs the risk of crashing the system. If that happens here, we'd lose because Usui has more health. However, since Sei enabled the pain feature, crashing the system is the least of our worries. The main issue is seeing how long _you _can last getting your ass beat."

Aoba was horrified. "That's your brilliant idea, letting me get punched on like a piñata?! Nope, nuh-uh, not doing it!"

He expected Sly to follow up with something mocking to antagonize him but instead his other self bored his eyes into him indignantly. "Ren does it every time you battle. He takes the pain so that you don't have to. Considering his age, he shouldn't even be in Rhyme at all but look at him, doing everything he can to help you. This is miniscule compared to everything he's done."

Never had he thought of it that way. Ren would go through any lengths to make him happy, even risking his body multiple times when Aoba didn't command him to, just to protect him. Their friendship had never been hinged on only one person taking and one giving; both would take but give their all. That meant that Aoba needed to do everything in his power to help Ren, even hurting his own body, just like the Allmate never hesitated to do.

"Alright. I can do it. How long do I need to hold out for?" He asked to Sly.

"At least until Usui's lifebar is down past one-third where yours is at. From that point, if we can keep them on defense and crash the game, we'll win."

The Rens were still attacking and Usui's life was going down, but it still wasn't much. Aoba remembered when he and Noiz had battled the second time (in Aoba's mind, it had been the first time) and how much that battle had hurt. He reminded himself though that this was just a virtual game and that his physical body would be perfectly fine afterwards.

Wait a minute…

He was still wide awake. Clear, Mink, Noiz, Koujaku, Virus and Trip were still in the room, even if they were on the far edges. This game wasn't taking place in his mind; this was his actual flesh and bones. Oh no…

"I use Decoy Set! Go!"

Sly called out the command, seemingly startling not only Sei but Usui as well. A large red sign above the blue-green Rhyme field displayed a scrolling message accompanied by a female robotic voice. "Warning, Decoy Set activated. May cause game instability. In extreme cases, may also lead to blacking out, lapses in memory or even coma. Decoy Set may even prove fatal. Do you wish to continue?"

"Wait, Sly, this might be going way too far—"

"Yes," Sly answered.

"Set approved," the voice said and the sign above them disappeared.

With the new command given, the old one was over-rode. Ren's doubles stopped attacking, and all others vanished, leaving only the real one. He was breathing hard (even without being real), his system overheating due to the strenuous fight. Seeing his friend in that condition made Aoba swallow any other protests, bracing his body for the assured pain.

On the other end, Sei didn't move, blinking at the two (three) of them. "Are you really going to do this? You'd really put your physical body on the line to win a Rhyme battle?"

"If that's what it takes, absolutely," Sly answered. "Considering you once split your consciousness into multiple forms as a way of escapism of your miserable life, you strive for realism in all things, hence why the pain code was disabled. This is exactly what you wanted, to _feel _something. Well, how do you feel about attacking your own brother so directly?"

Sei fully understood the implications of what was going on. The previous attacks were nothing more than the vibration setting of a game controller compared to what Aoba (or rather, Sly) was doing now. Could he do it? Could he risk killing his own brother to prove…what? That he was stronger? Better? Not some helpless pushover like before? Aoba wasn't the person he needed to demonstrate that to. The person that needed to bear witness to his newfound strength wasn't there, having run away with their tail between their legs.

Even if he wanted Aoba's help, was it worth getting that help at the cost of ruining their bond? Or worse…at the possibility of killing him? The million dollar question he'd been asking himself since day one: was any of this worth it?

_Yes._

_ Maybe._

"I…" Sei whispered.

_No. _

_ Yes. _

_ Do it._

" I…forfeit."

"Rhyme field deactivated! Winner, Sly Blue!" The same female voice announced. The gridlines began to recede like the tides of the ocean, revealing the office once more.

"Aoba-san!" Clear called out, rushing forward. He put himself directly in front of his master, blocking him from any possible attacks.

"I'm fine," Aoba said, this time in his own voice. Sly retreated once more to the background but before he could let him go, Aoba asked him, "Did you know Sei was going to throw the match?"

"No," Sly said, rolling his eyes upwards thoughtfully. "My actual plan was indeed to use you as a decoy. As Usui was attacking you, I was going to get Ren to attack Sei directly. Sei's still kinda frail. So long as we could knock him out before Usui knocked you out, we wouldn't even need to wait until the one-third mark. If the user of an Allmate is incapable of giving further orders, that also counts as a loss."

"Ack! That's horrible!" Aoba reprimanded.

"Hey, I didn't hear any better plans coming from you! But we didn't even need to go that far and now you have your brother back. You can thank me later." With this, he walked away, disappearing once more into a far corner of Aoba's conscious.

As for Sei, he had stumbled his way over to his desk to sink down into the chair. His elbows were on the surface and his face was buried in his hands. "What have I become?" his muffled voice said. "This isn't what I wanted. I just wanted…to _do _something. To undo what Toue ruined. Instead, I just made things worse." He pulled his face up only enough to show his eyes. "I really am a terrible person, aren't I?"

Aoba was about to reply when Mink stepped forward. Walking right up to Sei, he snatched the front of the black t-shirt that still read "Stay Calm and Conquer On" and snarled, "I have had it up to _here _with your whiny bullshit! You're a little kid who tried to play emperor and when you realized nobody was buying your crap, you start to whine about everyone being mean to you! Instead of crying about it, why not try actually _doing _something about it? Yes, you fucked up. You fucked up big time. Stop looking to your little brother to solve your shit! Grow a backbone and do it yourself!"

Everyone stared at him in surprise, not saying anything. Mink released him, pushing him back into his chair and stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"But I'm…"

Mink narrowed his eyes further.

Changing tactic, Sei gave a sigh of resignation. "I understand. This is just too much for me to handle. I need help. And that can't come from Aoba. We'd just be the blind leading the blind. Maybe…it's time I looked beyond this tiny island for those answers."

The others nodded and Aoba came up to him where he'd slumped down. Stooping to lower himself, he pulled Sei into a hug, their first one ever. "Thank you. You're doing the right thing. And…you're not like Toue. Toue's goal was much more sadistic. At least you genuinely wanted to help. You just became a bit misguided, that's all."

Sei laughed, sniffling. "I feel like all of this was one big episode of _Intervention_."

"What?" Aoba asked.

"Nothing."

"Well that was mildly interesting," Virus spoke up, looking at Trip. The other nodded.

"Yeah. So that's what would happen if Sei were to take over. But I'll say, it was a bit disappointing. Not nearly as exciting as Toue."

"Indeed," said Virus. "Well then, maybe we'll have more fun with the actual owner of the company."

Sei's eyes landed on them, already beginning to tense. "What do you mean? Unless Toue's back, I'm the owner."

Virus and Trip shook their blonde heads together. "Nope," Virus said. "We actually found something else that over-rode that."

"And just what would that be?" Sei asked with clenched fists. Even if he sucked as the head of the company, he wasn't keen on relinquishing the power it afforded just yet.

"An updated document for Toue's power of attorney," Trip told him, going over to the desk. The briefcase they'd used that day in the hospital had been sitting beside the desk the entire time. Picking it up, he put it on the surface and opened it, fingering through the same officious papers as last time. Except this time, he pulled out a sheaf of papers that'd been folded into thirds.

"This one was written after the one we found for you," Trip said, handing the papers to Sei. "Thus, it takes precedence over the previous one. In short, you were never really the president."

Sei didn't open them. He had never felt so angry before in his life. Angry, and scared. What would become of him now? Would this new person look at him as property of Toue, inc and demand he be submitted to experiments again? His freedom had at last been within his grasp and, handed to him on a seemingly innocuous piece of paper. And in the exact same fashion, it had been taken away.

Standing up, Sei approached the both of them, refusing to let them intimidate him. "I am getting _so sick _of your games! You two have been jerking me around like a dog on a leash from the very beginning! I'm not some little pawn that you can play however you wish!"

"Oh my, we've made him mad," Virus said to his cohort and both smiled sympathetically at him.

"Get the hell out of my office!" Sei shrieked, losing it.

"Not your office anymore," Virus corrected.

"Never was to begin with," Trip reminded. "Why don't you take a look at that first page to see who the _real _owner is?"

Hands shaking in rage, Sei unfolded the stack of papers. His eyes skimmed through most of it, a lot of it a repeat of what was on his own documents. But when he got to the line actually stating the power of attorney, he froze, choking in surprise.

"This can't be real…no way…"

"It's real," Trip assured him. "And so, I think it's time we pay them a little visit…"

~.~.~

"You're all full of shit and I don't believe you."

These were the first words said by Tae Seragaki when presented the information that named her as Toue Inc's rightful owner.

"Even I looked over it, Granny," Aoba told her at the kitchen table that next morning. He'd been accompanied by all the others, curious to see what the spitfire Tae would say to this turn of events. "It seems…Toue was in love with you, that's why he did it. There's even—urgh!—a note…"

He gagged as he pushed the hand-written letter towards his grandmother. She took it skeptically and began to read aloud in a dry voice:

"For Tae, my love,

I regret that you left my employment those many years ago before I was ever able to confess my feelings for you. I know it is improper but I have always loved you. Not just for your brilliant research that allowed me to further my company in ways I could have never imagined but I loved you for being you. That saucy attitude. Your amazing cooking that you frequently shared with the office. And that _adorable _pink hair that could bring a man like me to his knees."

"STOP! NO MORE!" The room screamed. But Tae…was blushing! She continued on, her voice losing its sarcastic edge:

"And so, my dearest, I have decided to gift you the thing that's most important to me. You helped me build this empire and while I've gone through several other considerations, I realized that you were the rightful one, the perfect queen to take the throne. Please be patient with me, my love. I one day plan to return so that I may rule by your side.

Truly forever yours,

Tatsuo Toue."

Finally finished, she put the paper down gently. "Well…my. He certainly has a way with words," she said, clearly flustered and trying to hide it.

To Aoba, Granny didn't do flustered. In fact, he found it downright scary to see his grandmother blushing like a schoolgirl. "Granny, this is Toue we're talking about! He's the reason so many people lost their homes! He's the reason why you couldn't leave the island for twenty years! And…why mom and dad couldn't come back." He added that last part with resentment but she knew that those particular feelings were not aimed at Toue. "He's not to be trusted. There's no way that man could ever be forgiven."

"Don't you think I already know that?" Tae snapped, and the table sighed with relief. "I'm not into all this corporate garbage anyways. Sei, if you want it, you can have it."

"Actually…" Sei lowered his eyes. "I don't want it. I only wanted it to keep Toue from ever using me again. But I don't need a company to do that. I have all of you," he said, looking around the table. Most everyone nodded and those that didn't, looked away with a hint of embarrassment but none denied his statement. "I know now that you guys will always help to thwart Toue."

"Well then, if neither of you want it, what do we do?" Aoba asked.

"I don't care, give it to someone else," Granny huffed, waving a hand. "Any of you have business experience?" She asked the group.

Three people sat up eagerly.

"My family runs a business," Noiz said.

"I _own _my own business," Koujaku cut across him.

"Does Etsy count?" Mink asked with a curious eyebrow raised.

"NO!" Koujaku and Noiz said. Mink shrugged and stared at the opposite wall with a bored expression.

"This isn't even a debate," Noiz said, planting both hands on the table. "My family's company brings in hundreds of millions a year. And as the eldest son, I'm next in line to take over." He decided to keep to himself that he forfeited that right when he ran away many years ago. It was his younger brother, Theo, that would now inherit the company. "I was born and bred to lead! I could just merge the two companies together."

Virus and Trip, who'd been sitting at the end of the table and watching everything in amusement, gave a loud chuckle that silenced everyone. "While your new position, Tae-san, affords you immense power, I don't think it extends to selling off the company," Virus informed, smirking as he pretended to clean off his glasses.

"Definitely not," Trip agreed.

"Ha!" Koujaku laughed right in Noiz's face. "Fine, neither of us will have it, especially not a _foreigner. _Besides, I'm sure the world remembers what happened the last time someone from your country was given too much power…"

"Oh, a Nazi joke," Noiz scoffed. "How original. At least I actually know how to run a business; what you have is a petty barbershop on the streets, roaming around like a vagrant. Not to mention you whore yourself out to keep customers."

"Burn," Mink said, continuing to stare at the wall.

Koujaku flushed a deep red. "Why you little—!"

Clear suddenly cut in with, "You two have the cutest lovers' quarrels! But I really think you should kiss and make-up more; it's no good to stay angry at each other all the time!"

From there, all hell broke loose. Both Koujaku and Noiz turned on Clear, denying any romantic affiliation with each other. Ren, Clear and Aoba continued to goad them on, laying out all of their "evidence" of the contrary. Tae began to raise hell at all of them, telling them to take it elsewhere and Virus and Trip took that time to slip out the door.

Feeling a weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders, Sei sat back with an easy smile, not minding the chaos one bit. The future of Midorijima was still unclear but he was sure that with everyone working together, they'd find the right answers eventually.

Besides, things couldn't get any worse than they already were, right?

…Right?

* * *

Thanks for reading! Final questions, comments or concerns are always much appreciated!


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